[jchrome]

"And the general conspiratorial narrative is that the US is trying to blame a blameless North Korea to achieve...something. Not sure what."

To assume the US Government's PR team won't use anything/everything to reinforce, reiterate or bolster it's own agenda is just idiocy. There are far too many examples throughout history where it has.

Whether or not that means that this investigation is a farce, is another question.

[Crito]

My hangup here is that the DPRK historically provides absolutely no shortage of excuses for the US to grandstand, but with the occasional exception of them shelling some South Korean island or kidnappings a tourist, they are usually (publically) ignored. Niche news websites about North Korea will talk about the crap they do or say weekly, but you usually only see US government officials and mainsteam US media piping up once or twice a year.

Its not like the US has to manufacturer an excuse to complain about them. There is an abundance of genuine North Korean antics to choose from if they want to.