North Korean state-run media reports that Trump has been sentenced to death for for insulting leader Kim Jong-Un.
The Guardian reported early Wednesday (15NOV17) that: “North Korea’s state media has criticized Donald Trump for insulting leader Kim Jong-Un, saying the US president deserved the death penalty and calling him a coward for cancelling a visit to the inter-Korean border.”
An editorial in the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun focused its anger on Trump’s visit to South Korea last week, during which he denounced the North’s “cruel dictatorship” in a speech to legislators in Seoul.
“The worst crime for which he can never be pardoned is that he dared [to] malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership,” the paper wrote, adding that: “He should know that he is just a hideous criminal sentenced to death by the Korean people.”
The Independent reported that: “The article also said that Mr Trump was a coward for cancelling a visit to the North Korean border, a decision that was made because of bad weather. But the article said that, in fact, the President ‘was just too scared to face the glaring eyes of our troops.'”
The declaration by Korean state media followed a weekend Tweet by Trump questioning “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?'”
Trump added: “Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!”
However, Trump expressed doubts that he and Kim Jong-un would ever become friends during a Saturday joint news conference in Vietnam.
“Strange things happen in life. That might be a strange thing that happens. But it is certainly a possibility,” Trump stated, adding: “If that did happen, it would be a good thing for, I can tell you, for North Korea. But it would also be good for lots of other places, and it would be good for the world.”
Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2017
As CNN reported at the time, Trump’s tweet was in response to “North Korea’s insults that described him as a ‘destroyer’ who ‘begged for nuclear war’ during his tour of Asia.”
In a statement lashing out at Trump on Saturday, North Korea also referred to him as a “dotard,” a word meaning a very old person, and one the reclusive nation has used on him in the past.
As The Guardian reported: “The members of the ruling Kim dynasty – past and present – enjoy near god-like status in North Korea, which has demonstrated extreme sensitivity to any remark that might be seen as mocking or disrespectful of the leadership.”
BBC reported that despite other awkward moments, Trump’s tweet about Kim Jong-un was the most memorable part of Trump’s Asia trip:
Then there were controversies more grounded in reality. The president’s insistence that Vladimir Putin believes Russia didn’t meddle in the 2016 US elections and his swipes at former leaders of the US intelligence community as “hacks” required him to later affirm his support for US intelligence agencies.
The Putin story was further fuelled by Mr Trump’s Twitter habit, as he lashed out at the media and “Crooked Hillary Clinton”. He called his critics “haters and fools” who did not understand that a friendly relationship with Russia was “a good thing.”
The biggest Twitter bombshell, however, came when the president bristled at Kim Jong-un for calling him “old”, grousing that he would never call the North Korean leader “short and fat”.
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