Comments come in response to US president’s speech at UN, in which he vowed to ‘totally destroy’ Asian country if provoked
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un Friday mocked Donald Trump as “mentally deranged” — and warned he will make the US president “pay dearly” for threatening the destruction of his country at the United Nations.
“I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the US pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying the DPRK,” Kim was quoted as saying by state news agency KCNA, referring to North Korea’s official name.
Earlier, North Korea’s foreign minister described Trump’s threat to destroy his country as “the sound of a dog barking.”
Those comments were the North’s first response to Trump’s debut speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, during which he vowed to “totally destroy North Korea” if provoked. Trump also called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “Rocket man.”
The North’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters in New York late Wednesday that “It would be a dog’s dream if he intended to scare us with the sound of a dog barking.”
South Korean TV footage also showed Ri saying he feels “sorry for his aides” when he was asked about Trump’s “Rocket man” comments.
Ri was to give a speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday, according to Yonhap news agency.
Trump has unleashed many strong statements on North Korea including his August warning the North will be met with “fire and fury.” The North has responded by a slew of weapons tests and warlike and often-mocking rhetoric against Trump. A top North Korean general called Trump’s “fire and fury” threats “a load of nonsense” let out by “a guy bereft of reason.”
The rhetorical battle came as outside experts say North Korea is getting closer to achieve its long-stated goal of building nuclear-armed missiles capable hitting anywhere in the US mainland.
Earlier this month, North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date and it was subsequently slapped with fresh, tough UN sanctions. North Korea later fired a ballistic missile over Japan and the US military flew powerful bombers and stealth fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula and near Japan in a show of force against the North.
As reported by The Times of Israel