Country threatens new ‘dotard’ insults

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA »

North Korea on Thursday threatened to resume calling President Donald Trump bad names, including a “dotard,” two days after he again called its leader “Rocket Man” and raised the possibility of using military force.

North Korea’s first vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, said that if Trump deliberately stoked “the atmosphere of confrontation” once again, then that “must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard.”

Choe issued her statement, which was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, in response to remarks Trump made in London on Tuesday, on the sidelines of his meetings with NATO leaders.

“We’re by far the most powerful country in the world,” Trump said, urging North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, to honor his promise to denuclearize. “And, hopefully, we don’t have to use it, but if we do, we’ll use it.”

Although he said he still had “a good relationship” and “confidence” in Kim, Trump also employed the mocking nickname he had used against the North Korean leader when he and Kim traded threats of war and personal insults two years ago.

“He definitely likes sending rockets up, doesn’t he?” Trump said, referring to the recent series of short- range ballistic and rocket tests by North Korea . “That’s why I call him ‘ Rocket Man.’ ”

On Wednesday, the North Korean military vowed to retaliate if the United States used military force. But Thursday, Choe said her government was more upset by Trump’s name- calling against its leader than his threat to use military force.

She warned that North Korea could resume a war of insults against Trump.