KIM VOWS TO MAKE ‘DERANGED’ TRUMP PAY FOR THREATS

It is the first direct statement of its kind by a N. Korean leader

SEOUL man” on a suicide mission.

Kim said the North would consider the “highest level of hardline countermeasure in history” against the US and that Trump’s comments had confirmed his own nuclear programme was “the correct path”.

Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept 3 and has launched dozens of missiles this year as it accelerates a programme aimed at enabling it to target the US with a nuclear-tipped missile.

“I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire,” Kim said in the statement carried by the KCNA state news agency.

The word “dotard” has confused a lot of English-speakers. The obscure word is old — late Middle English, or around the 14th century — and means senile old person, someone in their dotage.

Although, Shakespeare and J.R.R. Tolkien used it, it is barely heard these days. That may change, however, given the arrival of the #dotard hashtag on Twitter.

In an apparent reply, Trump yesterday warned Kim that he would be “tested”.

“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!” Trump tweeted.

In a separate report, KCNA made a rare criticism of official Chinese media, saying their comments on the North’s nuclear programme had damaged ties and suggested Beijing, its only major ally, had sided with Washington.

Singling out the official People’s Daily and its more nationalistic sister publication, the Global Times, KCNA said Chinese media were “openly resorting to interference in the internal affairs of another country” and driving a wedge between the countries.

The escalating rhetoric came even as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for statesmanship to avoid “sleepwalking” into a war. South Korea, Russia and China all urged calm.

However, the rhetoric was starting to rattle some in the international community.

French Sports Minister Laura Flessel said France’s team would not travel to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea if security would not be guaranteed.

The games are to be staged in Pyeongchang, just 80km from the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, the world’s most heavily armed border. Agencies

I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire.