- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally fired back at President Donald Trump, calling him a “mentally deranged US dotard.” Kim’s statement follows a meeting between Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Trump moved to slap more sanctions against North Korea after his first address at the UN.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launched a salvo of threats aimed at President Donald Trump on Thursday, following Trump’s address at the UN General Assembly in which he called Kim Jong Un “Rocket Man” and admonished North Korea for its continued provocations.
Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s state-sanctioned news organization, released the statement, a series of aggressive statements and metaphors that were said to have been personally delivered by Kim.
“The speech made by the US president … on the UN arena in the prevailing serious circumstance, in which the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been rendered tense as never before and is inching closer to a touch-and-go state, is arousing worldwide concern,” Kim’s statement said.
“But, far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors,” the statement continued. “A frightened dog barks louder.”
North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong Ho later said his country may consider testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
"It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific," Ri said. "We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un."
Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, where Trump moved to impose new sanctions against North Korea.
On Tuesday, during his first appearance before the UN General Assembly, Trump said Kim was "on a suicide mission" and asserted that if North Korea continued its provocations, the US would "have no choice but to totally destroy" the country.
"If this is not twisted enough, now North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life," Trump said at the UN on Tuesday. "It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime but would arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict."
North Korea continued to flex its military power with another missile test last week. The missile flew over Hokkaido, Japan, forcing the country to issue public alerts for its residents. The test also came less than two weeks after North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb, which if true would be a massive boost for its weapons program.
The UN Security Council delivered sanctions against the country after that test, imposing a ban on North Korea's textile exports and caps on crude-oil exports to North Korea. The sanctions, however, appeared to have little effect on Kim.
"Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation," Kim's statement continued Thursday. "I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire."