North Korea calls Trump erratic, old
A SENIOR North Korean official called Donald Trump a “heedless and erratic old man” yesterday, resuming insults of the US president that had been set aside during a thaw.
This came a day after Pyongyang announced a “very important” test of an unspecified device. Satellite imagery indicated yesterday it may have been a rocket engine, an indication of possible future plans if Pyongyang carries out threats to declare disarmament talks a failure at year’s end.
The statement carried in state media KCNA by Kim Yong Chol, a ruling party vice-chairperson who was instrumental in arranging a failed second summit in February, was the strongest salvo yet in a war of words that has rekindled in recent days.
He described Trump as impatient, rebuked him over his own rhetoric and repeated a threat from last week that Pyongyang would dust off its previous insult “dotard” for the US leader.
Tensions have been rising in recent weeks as a year-end deadline approaches set by North Korea for Washington to soften its stance in negotiations. Pyongyang has conducted a series of weapons tests and issued strongly worded statements. Although Trump regularly exchanged insults with North Korea in the first years of his term, both sides had abandoned personal attacks after Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore last year.
The North Korean official said the country’s leader may change his views towards Trump if the president continues uttering “inappropriate, highly risky words and expressions”.
He pointed to remarks by Trump on Sunday that Kim had “far too much to lose”. Those comments indicate Trump is “an old man bereft of patience”, the North Korean official said.
“As he is such a heedless and erratic old man, the time when we cannot but call him a ‘dotard’ again may come.”
Another senior North Korean official, Ri Su Yong, said Trump should think twice if he does not want to see “bigger catastrophic consequences”, adding that North Korea will make a final judgment by the end of this year.
Kim has warned he may take a “new path” if the US fails to address his demands.