The world has been laughing at us. The world doesn't respect Trump and therefore they don't respect USA...
Lol. World politics is a big power struggle, you don't earn respect by handling situations in a passive manner (most cultures take that as a sign of weakness); that was evident with Obama when other countries would not even roll out the red carpet, the stairs on the tarmac, or bother sending government officials to greet him at the airport... he was treated like a joke because you don't earn respect handling your affairs in an impotent way. They may not have been laughing out through public media since they were benefiting from his actions, but I guarantee it was being done in private.
The way diplomacy is conducted in Europe is not the same as it is in East Asia with regards to acts of aggression. That is being overlooked, as if there's a one-size-fit-all solution for everything. The European style has been implemented on North Korea and China for decades now... and their response has been to take advantage of it; it doesn't work basically.
Because East Asian politics can be more primal in nature, the two sides will usually size each other up, make threatening gestures, with neither being expected to back down. Similar to how in the animal kingdom, animals try to show they're bigger, badder, exchange warning roars, do a few fake charges... all that posturing works to avoid a fatal battle, with both ultimately retiring having not fought out their differences.
North Korea is testing Trump. If he were to use Obama's method: issue a few vague statements, 'we call for calm', 'we will defend our allies', etc., and ultimately do nothing... that's how you get disrespect, they will take that as a sign that you have no balls. Trump is using the correct strategy to deal with them for once. When you have power, and show you are not afraid to use it, people are forced to respect you, even the most crazy ones.