[El Gato]

The USS Lake Erie has been credited with kills on the test range

Sure, but nothing screaming in at mach 23 to Mach 25. Those missiles are designed for shorter range missiles. The longer the range, the higher the reentry velocity.

We once had missiles capable of stopping incoming from even farther away than Hawaii is from NK. In fact we had two. Spartan and Sprint, collectively known as Sentinel with a latter downgraded(in 1967!) version, actually deployed known as Safeguard. Site was in North Dakota, where it protected our own Minuteman ICBMs from a first strike. The American Safeguard system was only briefly operational (for a matter of several months). The Soviet system (now called A-135 "Galosh") has been improved over the decades, and it is still operational around Moscow

[BIGLOOK]

Thanks for the skinny, El Gato. You're right but the DPRK hasn't successfully attained low earth orbit yet (or even 'just into space' at 100 km) and I doubt they'll do it in the near future. That still leaves a piece of junk that'll be headed our way (or Japan's or Russia's way, both have stated they'll shoot it down if it intrudes their air space). If the missile actually attains orbit, who knows where it'll come down; the Korcoms may be able to launch a three stage missile but do they have the control and guidance systems to make it do what it was intended to do?

Problem is, their success could trigger a confrontation and their failure could do the same.