US President Donald Trump’s insult, calling leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man”, makes “our rocket’s visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more”, North Korea’s foreign minister said.
Ri Yong Ho called the US leader “a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency” with his finger on the “nuclear button” and declared: “None other than Trump himself is on a suicide mission.”
He told world leaders on Saturday: “In case innocent lives of the US are lost because of this suicide attack, Trump will be held totally responsible.”
Mr Ri’s highly anticipated speech to the General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting fuelled the fiery rhetoric between the US president and North Korea’s young leader.
Mr Trump threatened in his speech to the 193-member world body on Tuesday, to “totally destroy” the North if provoked.
Kim, in an unusual direct statement to the world, responded by pledging to take “highest-level” action against the United States.
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans gathered at Kim Il Sung Square to attend a mass rally against the USA America on Saturday (Jon Chol Jin/AP)
Mr Ri suggested to reporters on Friday in New York that the country could conduct an atmospheric hydrogen bomb test to fulfil Kim’s vows. But he did not make any mention of such a test on Saturday.
Mr Ri said: “Our national nuclear force is, to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the US and for preventing its military invasion, and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the US.”
Mr Ri’s comments came as the United States on Saturday flew bombers and fighter escorts to the furthest point north of the Demilitarised Zone by any such American aircraft this century, in a show of American military might.
B-1B bombers from Guam and F-15 fighter escorts from Okinawa in Japan have flown a mission in international airspace over the waters east of North Korea (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)
The Pentagon said the mission showed how seriously President Donald Trump took North Korea’s “reckless behaviour”.
“This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat,” Defence Department spokesman Dana White said in a statement.
“North Korea’s weapons programme is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
“We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies,” Ms White said.
The Pentagon said B-1B bombers from Guam, along with F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday.
The US characterised the flights as extending further north of the DMZ, which separates North and South Korea, than any US fighter or bomber had gone off the North Korean coast in the 21st century.
Mr Trump on Friday had renewed his rhetorical offensive against Kim.
“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!” the president tweeted.
On Thursday, Mr Trump announced more economic sanctions against the impoverished and isolated country, targeting foreign companies that deal with the North.
“North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development is a grave threat to peace and security in our world and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime,” Mr Trump said as he joined Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a meeting in New York.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel