U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are in the midst of a war of words, exchanging barbs over North Korea’s nuclear missile programme. The two started trading insults with Mr. Trump’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speech on Tuesday in which he said he would have no choice but “to totally destroy North Korea” if the U.S. was threatened.
Here is list of all that they have said to or about each other since then.
“Rocket Man”
Mr. Trump called Mr. Kim a “rocket man” who “is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime” in his speech at the UNGA. “…if U.S is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary,” the President said, adding that the avoiding a war was the responsibility of the U.N. “It is time for North Korea to realise that the denuclearisation is its only acceptable future,” the President further said.
The U.S. President had also used the ‘rocket man’ sobriquet a couple of days earlier in his tweet, after speaking to South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!”
“Mentally deranged U. S. dotard”
In what is being called an “extraordinary rebuke”, Mr. Kim called Mr. Trump the “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” in retaliation to the UNGA speech.
Mr. Kim said Mr. 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” and added, “A frightened dog barks louder.”
However, what went viral was Mr. Kim’s usage of ‘dotard’. According to the Associated Press, “Dotard is a translation of a Korean word, neukdari , which is a derogatory reference to an old person.”
“I’d like to advise Trump to exercise prudence in selecting words and to be considerate of whom he speaks to when making a speech in front of the world. The mentally deranged behaviour of the U.S. 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,” said Mr. Kim.
“Madman”
Mr. Trump retaliated, this time with “madman”.
After Mr. Kim’s statement, Mr. Trump, on Satruday, tweeted that the North Korean leader was a “madman” who didn’t “mind starving his people”. “Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!” he tweeted.
