North Korea hits back at Trump’s ‘sinister’ address
SEOUL: North Korea hit back at US President Donald Trump on Sunday after he slammed rights abuses under the hermit regime in his State of the Union address, with Pyongyang describing the speech as “screams of Trump terrified” by the North’s power.
The comments follow months of fiery rhetoric between the two countries that have seen tensions soar, with Trump drawing criticism at home for repeatedly using highlymenacing language towards the reclusive state.
During Wednesday’s address, he criticised the “cruel dictatorship” of Kim Jong-Un and the leader’s “reckless pursuit” of atomic weapons while vowing to wage “a campaign of maximum pressure” to derail the nuclear threat.
Kim declared his country a fully- fledged nuclear power last November after testing an intercontinental ballistic missile Pyongyang claimed is capable of reaching the US mainland.
Trump also lashed out at widespread human rights abuses under the regime and highlighted the case of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died last year shortly after being released from a 17-monthlong detention in North Korea.
A spokesperson of the North’s foreign ministry on Sunday said the speech reflected “the height of Trumpstyle arrogance, arbitrariness and selfconceit,” in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.
“Trump also insisted upon the ‘maximum pressure’ against our country, viciously slandering our most superior people-centered social system,” the statement added.