FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

North Korea calls Trump a “barking dog” after “Rocket Man” gibe

There was a time when international diplomacy was an austere game of chess. President Donald Trump seems to have turned it into a Comedy Central Roast.

Responding to Trump’s recent threat to “totally destroy” North Korea, Pyongyang Wednesday compared the president’s remarks to “the sound of a barking dog.”

Speaking to reporters outside his New York hotel Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho dismissed Trump’s warnings as empty rhetoric.

Advertisement

When asked about the president’s snarky “Rocket Man” put-down of leader Kim Jong un, Ri said: “I feel sorry for his aides.”

“If he was thinking he could scare us with the sound of a dog barking, that’s really a dog dream,” Ri said. In Korean, a dog dream is one that makes little sense, according to the Korean Herald.

Trump used his UN speech Tuesday to threaten Pyongyang if it continued testing missiles, or further endangered the U.S. or its allies. North Korean officials walked out of the chamber in protest before the speech began.

Trump also repeated the “Rocket Man” nickname he first used in a tweet a week earlier — a comment that was not appreciated by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Ri will address the U.N. General Assembly Friday and meet with the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a day later before flying home.

It is unclear if he will meet with White House officials while in New York, but given the constant bickering between the two countries, negotiations are unlikely.

Trump will hold talks with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, on Thursday to discuss ways to end North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Moon has drawn ire in his home country for approving a plan to send $8 million worth of aid to North Korea — a decision that has hit his approval rating.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Thursday the situation on the Korean Peninsula must not be allowed to spin out of control.