Sigmar Gabriel urged patience from the US, saying it would take time for new sanctions to take effect in the secretive totalitarian state.
And Germany’s Foreign Minister warned only direct negotiations with North Korea can solve the crisis.
In an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper, Mr Gabriel said: “North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un, is not crazy at all.
“He is following a carefully developed strategy. He thinks that his regime will be safe if he has a nuclear bomb. Nobody will dare to threaten him.”
“It often takes time for the effects of sanctions to be felt. We saw this in Iran. However, just like North Korea, we need a different safety guarantee than the nuclear bomb.”
Mr Gabriel warned that if North Korea continued with its determined pursuit of nuclear weapons, “many other countries” would start programmes of their own.
He said: “Then our children will live in a very dangerous world.”
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday the United States would continue to pressure Russia and China to push for tougher sanctions.
But US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said that UN Security Council sanctions had been “pretty much exhausted.”
She said: “If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behaviour, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed.
“And we all know that. And none of us want that. None of us want war.”
North Korea has carried out a string of nuclear and ballistic missile tests in recent weeks which have been met with condemnation from the international community.
Two recent test launches have blasted over Hokkadio, Japan’s northernmost island, terrifying residents who woke up to the sounds of air raid sirens and prompting fears that a malfunction or explosion over Japanese territory could inadvertently trigger World War 3.
And North Korea’s supreme leader has been engaged in a war of words with his US counterpart.
In August, US President Donald Trump promised to rain down “fire and fury” on Pyongyang if to Kim Jong-un followed through on his threat to launch missiles at the US Pacific territory of Guam.
Yesterday, Mr Trump mocked the North Korean leader in a tweet which referred to him as ‘“rocket man” and said that “long lines” were forming at petrol stations – a suggestion that recent sanctions on oil imports were starting to bite.