Regime blasts ‘old, erratic’ Trump as rhetoric heats up
SEOUL: North Korea took its most personal swipe at President Donald Trump in more than two years, saying the US leader’s recent comments made him sound like a “heedless and erratic old man”.
The statement released by North Korean official Kim Yong-chol on Monday was the latest in a rhetorical tit-for-tat ahead of Pyongyang’s selfimposed year-end deadline for a breakthrough in nuclear talks. On Sunday, Mr Trump played down warnings from the regime, saying in a tweet that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was “too smart and has far too much to lose” to renew hostility with the US.
“This naturally indicates that Trump is an old man bereft of patience,” said Kim Yong-chol, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. “As he is such a heedless and erratic old man, the time when we cannot but call him a ‘dotard’ again may come.”
The personal insults recalled the tense days of 2017, when an escalating series of North Korean missile tests led Mr Trump to mock Mr Kim as “Rocket Man” while threatening to totally destroy the country. North Korea later dismissed Mr Trump as a “dotard” before both men put their public animosities aside for unprecedented nuclear talks that resulted in three face-to-face meetings, but no disarmament deal.
The latest North Korean statements suggest that Kim Jong-un’s opinion of Mr Trump, 73, “may change”, if the US leader didn’t change course. “If the US has no will and wisdom, it cannot but watch with anxiety the reality in which the threat to its security increases with the passage of time,” said Kim Yong-chol.
Until April, Kim Yongchol — who’s also 73 — was vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party and met with Mr Trump twice at the White House ahead of summits between the two leaders. Most recently, state media have described him as chairman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee.
The latest comments were a warning that Kim Jong-un himself will make a statement soon, according to Cheong Seong-chang, researcher of The Sejong Institute, calling Kim Yong-chol the John Bolton of North Korea. “These statements don’t publish without Kim’s approval, so it’s no different from Kim borrowing the platforms of his highlevel officials to deliver his feelings about Trump’s recent name-calling,” Mr Cheong said.