North Korea calls Trump 'a frightened dog' in fiery response to his UN address
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally fired back at Trump, calling him a "mentally deranged US dotard."
- Kim Jong Un's statement follows a meeting between Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
- Trump moved to slap more sanctions against the regime, after his first address at the UN.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launched a salvo of threats aimed at President Donald Trump on Thursday, following Trump's address at the UN General Assembly where he called Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man" and admonished his regime for its continued provocations.
In a series of aggressive statements and metaphors, KCNA, North Korea's state-sanctioned news organization, released the statement, which was said to have been personally delivered by Kim Jong Un.
"The speech made by the US president ... on the UN arena in the prevailing serious circumstance, in which the situation on the Korean peninsula has been rendered tense as never before and is inching closer to a touch-and-go state, is arousing worldwide concern," Kim Jong Un's statement read.
"But, far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors," the statement continued. "A frightened dog barks louder."
North Korea's statement comes amid a meeting between Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, where Trump moved to impose new sanctions against the hostile regime; and two days after Trump made his first appearance before the UN General Assembly.
During his speech before the UN, Trump said Kim Jong Un was "on a suicide mission" and asserted that if North Korea continued its provocations, the US would "have no choice but to totally destroy" the country.
"If this is not twisted enough, now North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life," Trump said at the UN on Tuesday. "It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime, but would arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict."
North Korea continued to flex its military power with another missile test last week. The missile managed to fly over Hokkaido, Japan, causing panic and forcing the country to issue public alerts for its citizens. The test also came less than two weeks after North Korea tested what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb, which if true, would be a massive boost for its weapons program.
Following the missile test, the UN Security Council delivered sanctions against the country, imposing a ban on North Korea's textile exports and caps crude-oil exports to North Korea. The sanctions; however, appeared to have little effect for the regime's leader.
"Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation," Kim Jong Un's statement continued. "I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire."