The sort of scenario you talked about has little chance of happening even in arcade games. Without US support, South Korea and Japan don’t have the dept of firepower to launch a focused strike which can eliminate most of North Korea’s artillery and missile sites. Besides US forces in the peninsula and Japan would almost certainly be targetted in reprisals.
Um, the last data I saw says the S and N have parity of forces except for boots on the ground. The N has superior force multipliers (tech). In that situation, the one who strikes HARD first wins.
The alternative is to appease and eventually the nuts running North Korea will strike hard first.
US troops and Japan are already targeted. Them getting hit is a foregone conclusion IMHO. Part of why I want our troops OUT, esp with this CinC /spit. That’s not going to happen - zero is too weak to do even that - so a massive de-fang/de-cap strike is their best chance for survival.
PS Love your quip about “arcade games.” I’m a student of history, though, and the pieces are set. Real war is going to happen, be it next week or at the latest next decade. Fight now and hit hard enough first and suffer. Delay and appease and suffer more. Those are the choices. Period.