U.S. president escalates war of words with North Korea
China to limit oil exports to bordering country
President Donald Trump escalated a war of words with North Korea on Friday, calling Kim Jong Un a “madman” who would be “tested like never before,” the latest in a potentially dangerous exchange of threats that included the North Korean leader calling Trump “deranged.”
The playground-level taunts marked a sudden and potentially alarming turn toward personal enmity between the two leaders, who are still taking one another’s measure. The insults capped a week in which Trump threatened to obliterate the impoverished but nuclear-armed nation to protect the United States and its allies; he also announced sweeping new U.S. financial sanctions.
Diplomats fretted that Trump was making a bad situation worse by threatening military action. North Korea said it is considering how to respond and suggested Friday that it may soon test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific.
The latest exchange began late Thursday, when Kim called Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” and referred to Trump’s speech at the United Nations on Tuesday as “unprecedented rude nonsense.”
Name-calling is standard procedure for North Korea, but the kind of direct statement issued in Kim’s name Thursday night is unusual.
Trump responded early Friday via Twitter.
“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!” the president tweeted.
Trump returned to the theme later Friday, saying at a political rally in Alabama that “Rocket Man should have been handled a long time ago.”
“I want to tell you something, and I’m sure he’s listing because he watches every word. He’s watching us like he never watched anybody before. And maybe something gets worked out and maybe it doesn’t. Personally, I’m not sure it will,” Trump said. “But I’ll tell you one thing: You are protected.”
The Trump administration said last week that Trump is merely using the kind of blunt language that the isolated North Korean leader understands. But officials acknowledge that they know little about how Kim perceives the world.
Asian diplomats have warned the United States that the risk is particularly acute if Kim feels he is losing respect with the North Korean military and government elite.
Pentagon leaders also worry that in the current charged environment, either leader or his military might misinterpret the other’s intentions. So far, the White House has pursued a sometimes confusing three-part strategy of tougher economic sanctions, military threats and an offer of negotiations.
“We don’t know how their means of communication and behavior will be,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday. “How the decision-maker or the people that are closer to the decision-maker are going to behave is something we will have to understand and learn.”
Friday’s exchange of insults came as China disputed Trump’s claim that Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered Chinese banks to cease conducting business with North Korean entities.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman denied that Beijing had agreed to go that far, but early Saturday, China announced it will limit oil exports to North Korea, further reducing support from Pyongyang’s last major trading partner, energy supplier and diplomatic ally.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.