All political leaders need 'bad guys' to help make them look strong and put fear into their citizens. Trump said he would use China and North Korea (and ISIS) before he gained power, rather than Russia who has been used by leaders in the past. And here we are. For Putin et al it is simpler in that the obviously bad guy for them is the US. These international incidents are probably not always that cynical but I always run this paradigm through my head when this sort of stuff goes on. Kim is developing these weapons so he can negotiate with a better position internationally (and funnily enough make himself look strong in his own country). I seriously doubt he's going to start firing nukes all round the world as, as stupid as our media like make North Koreans to be, they will know they will be obliterated if they did so. They've had short range missiles for decades that could have been fired into South Korea and they've never done so because they know the consequences.
