Foreign minister fuels fiery rhetoric between U.S. and N. Korea

North Korea’s foreign minister told world leaders Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s insult calling leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man” makes “our rocket’s visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more.”

Ri Yong Ho called the American president “a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency” with his finger on the “nuclear button.” And he said Trump’s “reckless and violent words” had provoked “the supreme dignity” of North Korea and “rendered this sacred U.N. arena tainted.”

Ri’s highly anticipated speech to the General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting fueled the fiery rhetoric between the U.S. president and North Korea’s young leader.

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 pledging to take “highest-level” action against the United States.

“None other than Trump himself is on a suicide mission,” Ri told the assembly Saturday. “In case innocent lives of the U.S. are lost because of this suicide attack, Trump will be held totally responsible.”

Ri suggested to reporters Friday in New York that his country could conduct an atmospheric hydrogen bomb test to fulfil Kim’s vow to take action. But he did not make any mention of such a test Saturday.

He did say that North Korea’s recent successful “ICBM-mountable H-bomb test” was part of the effort to complete the country’s nuclear force.

“Our national nuclear force is, to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the U.S. and for preventing its military invasion,” Ri said, “and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the U.S.”

The foreign minister’s opening remarks reflected the deep anger in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – the country’s official name – at Trump’s derisive nickname for Kim who is revered by many people in the North.

Ri said that during his eight months in power, Trump had turned the White House “into a noisy marketing place” and now he has tried to turn the United Nations “into a gangsters’ nest where money is respected and bloodshed is the order of the day.”

The North Korean minister called Trump a “gambler who grew old using threats, frauds and all other schemes to acquire a patch of land” and said he is even derided by the American people as “Commander in Grief,” “Lyin King,” and “President Evil.”

“Due to his lacking of basic common knowledge and proper sentiment, he tried to insult the supreme dignity of my country by referring it to a rocket,” Ri said. “By doing so, however, he committed an irreversible mistake of making our rockets’ visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more.”

Meanwhile, in a show of American military might to North Korea, U.S. bombers and flight escorts flew on Saturday to the farther point north of the border between North and South Korea by any such American aircraft this century. The Pentagon said the mission in international airspace showed how seriously President Donald Trump takes North Korea’s “reckless behaviour.”

“This mission is a demonstration of U.S. 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 program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community. We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies,” White said.