‘Old’ Trump: I won’t call Kim short, fat
HANOI— US President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had insulted him by calling him “old” and said he would never call Kim “short and fat.”
Trump made the comment after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Vietnam.
In a series of tweets, he also said Chinese President Xi Jinping was “upping sanctions” on North Korea in response to its nuclear and missile programs and that Xi wants Pyongyang to “denuclearize.”
During Trump’s visit to Bei- jing, Xi reiterated that China would strive for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula but offered no hint that China would change tack on North Korea, with which it fought side by side in the 1950-53 Korean war against US-led forces.
Making friends
One of Trump’s tweets read: “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘ short and fat?’ Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend—and maybe someday that will happen!”
Trump has traded insults and threats with Kim in the past amid escalating tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs as North Korea races toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States—something Trump has vowed to prevent.
North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb test on Sept. 3, prompting another round of UNsanctions.
‘Dotard’
In September, Kim described Trump as a “mentally deranged US dotard” whom he would tame with fire. His comments came after Trump threatened in his maiden UN address to “totally destroy” North Korea if the United States were threatened.
After North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho addressed the UN General Assembly in September, Trump tweeted: “Just heard foreign minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!”
North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions.