North Korea took a shot at President Trump after he announced at NATO meeting in London that the U.S. would use force against the isolated nation if needed.
North Korea 1st Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hu said Thursday that her office could not “contain its displeasure” over the president’s comments, and added that if he continues, Trump “will again show the senility of a dotard,” USA Today reported.
Those remarks reflect North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s comments from September 2017 when he said he would “tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard,” referring to Trump.
Kim also was “displeased [with the] undesirable remarks” from the president, according to army chief of staff Pak Jong Chon, who was quoted by the North Korean Central News Agency, cited in USA Today.
Pak added that the two countries “are still technically at war and the state of truce can turn into an all-out armed conflict any moment.”
“One thing I would like to make clear is that the use of armed forces is not the privilege of the U.S. only,” Pak said.
Trump on Tuesday was asked by reporters about North Korea’s continuous missile tests, to which the president responded that the U.S. has the most powerful military internationally and he would utilize it against North Korea “if we have to,” according to USA Today.
The president resurfaced the nickname “Rocket Man” for Kim during his comments, prompting Choe to bring up “dotard” to refer to Trump.
North Korea said earlier this week that the U.S. will decide what kind of “Christmas gift” it wants as the end-of-the-year deadline for negotiations on denuclearization approaches. Kim set the deadline in April, but talks had stalled for months, including last month when North Korea called U.S. efforts “sickening.”