Are you suggesting that nobody in North Korea with the power to stop the launch of a nuclear attack would be severely adversely affected by nuclear retaliation

Are you suggesting that nobody in North Korea with the power to stop the launch of a nuclear attack would be severely adversely affected by nuclear retaliation that reduces North Korea to rubble? I don't think that's a reasonable assumption. In fact, I think MAD is one of very few things that could provoke a mutiny against Kim Jong-Un.