(USA Today) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called US President Trump a “mentally deranged dotard” and threatened to “tame (Trump) with fire” for making comments to the United Nations about destroying the rogue nation.
“The mentally deranged behavior of the US president openly expressing on the UN arena the unethical will to ‘totally destroy’ a sovereign state, beyond the boundary of threats of regime change or overturn of social system, makes even those with normal thinking faculty think about discretion and composure,” Kim said in a statement released this morning (Sept. 22) on North Korean media.
Kim said that Trump is “unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country.” He also described the president as “a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire.”
The North Korean dictator concluded his comments with a final threat to Trump and the US: “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire.”
The ongoing war of words between the two leaders on opposite sides of the Pacific have been exacerbated in recent months amid growing tension over North Korea’s nuclear weapons build-up.
Trump said yesterday he will ramp up economic pressure on North Korea by signing an executive order that cracks down on anyone who does business with the hermit nation.
Even amid such sanctions and threats, Trump and his aides say they hope to resolve the stand-off over nuclear weapons without resorting to military action.
Kim’s latest rhetoric follows Trump’s combative speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday where he mocked Kim as a “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission,” and said that if “forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”
Kim said Trump’s remarks “have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last.” He added that he is “thinking hard” about his response and that Trump “will face results beyond his expectation.”
It is unusual for the North Korean leader to issue such a statement in his own name. It will further escalate the war of words between the adversaries as the North moves closer to perfecting a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike America.
In recent months, the North has launched a pair of intercontinental missiles believed capable of striking the continental United States and another pair that soared over Japanese territory. Earlier this month, North Korea conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date, drawing stiffer UN sanctions.
CAPTION:
Top: TV screens show a news program with an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Yongsan Electronic Market in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday, Sept. 20, 2017. Photo: Ahn Young-joon / AP via USA Today
SOURCE: USA Today written by Mike James with The Associated Press contributing to this report
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