It’s a tricky affair, launching ballistic missiles. If you’re North Korea, they’re a source of humiliation, wasted resources and not an insignificant number of Internet memes. That was certainly the case when the DPRK attempted to send a “satellite” into space back in April. The launch pad and, indeed, entire process was so amateurish it made the handling of road works on Sidgwick Avenue look like a military operation. The launch failed, foreign journalists smirked and many otherws with them. But they shouldn’t have done.

In December North Korea had their first successful launch of a rocket into space, soon accompanied by touchingly proud patriotic citizens, energizing military parades and an announcement by a curiously over-emotional newsreader. Against all odds, be it UN economic sanctions or vocal warnings from most Asian powers, the boys in Pyongyang had done it. Then, last week, another launch was announced without, somewhat disconcertingly, a time frame.

The story graced the front page of BBC News for a few days, only to replaced with accounts of celebrity paedophilia and football transfers. North Korea may be armed and dangerous, but while the events sent tremors through East Asia, only the slightest of reverberations seem to have been felt in Europe.

For the West, it seems convenient to ignore North Korea, or at least appease it. The US is focused on improving ties with China, and maintaining a strong presence in what will soon be the wealthiest and most powerful region in the world. China constitutes North Korea’s main (and pretty much only) ally in East Asia, and after a delicate power handover in Beijing, a provocative stance towards the DPRK is not high in Obama’s agenda.

Even China itself can’t take North Korea seriously. In 2010, as part of the US diplomatic cables leak, it emerged that Chinese officials saw North Korea as no more than “a spoiled child”. The world afforded itself a quiet chuckle at the diplomatic kerfuffle that ensued.

North Korea’s diplomatic isolation in East Asia leaves Europe and the West sleeping pretty peacefully at night. Japan, South Korea, most Southeast Asian nations and even China condemned the launch, and almost all took part in UN sanctions. Coverage of events in North Korea doesn’t help their case either. Stories of dire food shortages suggest that behind a façade of military prowess lies a tired and hungry state. And the state news story, broken in November, of the discovery of a unicorn lair near Pyongyang was never going to add a great deal of credibility to a tarnished media image.

Thus the reaction to the launch at Christmas was nothing new. Increasingly unimpressed statements were issued from Washington, and economic sanctions were stepped up. It’s a potent diplomatic concoction, but one that won’t go straight to the head of North Korea. That’s because, behind the framework of flimsy launchpads and manufactured emotions lies a much more unsettling reality. North Korea, the “Hermit Kingdom” as Western media dubs it, is not as lonely as we would like to think.

And it’s that old provocateur, Iran, which is hiding behind the scenes. In September 2012, the two states signed a technological and scientific agreement. Western critics dismissed it as a propaganda ploy. But the agreement allowed for data and technical expertise sharing. As soon as one side got hold of new technology, the other would automatically benefit. The “spoiled child” was gaining some muscle and starting to flex.

That wasn’t all. The two states crucially developed patterns on dealing with US-led sanctions, rendering the only action taken by Western powers largely ineffective. Iran’s economy is nowhere near collapse, and soon offered a life support system to a weak North Korean market. The storm of world trade sanctions evolved into more of a trifling gust.

Russia’s not exempt either. Moscow’s trade links with Tehran are a well-known fact. Their links to Pyongyang, however, are not. Yet, the use of red fuming nitric acid in the North Korean rocket, a propellant used in old Soviet missiles, is a beautiful, if disquieting coincidence. The old Soviet giant may not directly be supporting North Korea’s armament, but with Iran as an intermediary, Russian technology is finding its way into the leather gloves of policymakers in North Korea. In the midst of seclusion, the hermit is expanding its network.

So, when rockets get fired or bullets shot, Western leaders like to talk of unnecessary provocation. Fingers get pointed in the direction of a frosty Pyongyang. And yet, the blame must fall on us. Western policy towards North Korea has failed because countries have under-estimated this spoiled child. Too much time chortling about unicorns and not enough time severing dangerous international links has allowed North Korea to mature. Now it has some neat new gadgets. Missiles capable of reaching western shores are just some of them.

A change of policy is needed. A sterner stance is essential. North Korea may have been the source of a few good jokes, but with rapidly advancing technology and a growing international framework, that joke is quickly losing its edge.