President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that "Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!"

Trump's statement echoes his defense secretary Jim Mattis, that the US and its ally South Korea have "the most precise, rehearsed, and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on earth." In response to North Korea announcing its intentions to possibly fire four nuclear-capable missiles towards the US territory of Guam, Mattis had a clear message: "Cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people."

Mattis himself admitted that that a fight with North Korea would be "more serious in terms of human suffering" than anything since the original Korean War ended in 1953 and "a war that fundamentally we don't want."

But as North Korea disregards international law, kills innocents, threatens the US and its neighbors with nuclear annihilation, and insists on unworkable terms for diplomacy, at some point the world's biggest military super power may have to step in.

Business Insider spoke with Stratfor's Sim Tack, a senior analyst who is an expert on North Korea, to determine exactly how the US could carry out a crippling strike against the Hermit Kingdom.