Jeffrey Caplan
In his State of the Union speech last week, President Donald Trump attacked North Korea’s record on human rights. And on Sunday, Kim Jong-un’s DPRK’s government struck back with another nuclear threat. A North Korean response was expected, as the two countries have often sparred verbally since Trump became president.
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This time, a North Korean official spoke out, decrying Trump’s leadership and claiming that the DPRK’s nuclear capabilities would prevent the West and its allies from interfering in North Korea’s business, according to the Daily Mail.
The tough words came in response to Trump hitting the North Koreans where it hurts most, telling the world, “No regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea.”
Trump added: “We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America and to our allies.”
The North Korean official said: “If Trump does not get rid of his anachronistic and dogmatic way of thinking, it will only bring about the consequence of further endangering security and future of the United States.”
North’s official Korean Central News Agency broadcast the remarks. The official’s statement also took issue with Trump’s claim in the State of the Union that the U.S. had “made incredible progress and achieved extraordinary success” over the last year.
The North Korean official called the boast “the height of Trump-style arrogance, arbitrariness and self-conceit.”
Trump said that the U.S. was “waging a campaign of maximum pressure” to prevent North Korea from being able to attack the U.S. with nuclear weapons.
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In response, the DPRK official said the country’s “self-reliant defense capability with the nuclear force as its backbone will, however, completely deter Trump and his lackeys from showing off on the Korean peninsula.”
Trump tried to further ruffle the feathers of the North Korean regime during his State of the Union speech by hosting several North Korean defectors in the Oval Office, including Ji Seong-ho, who had escaped the isolated nation on crutches after he was hit by a train, leading to the amputation of his left leg and arm.
Of course, during the address, Ji raised his crutches in triumph when Trump commended him for his heroic escape.
Trump has said he’s willing to deal with the nuclear threat coming from Pyongyang through diplomacy, but he has also noted that the U.S. would use military force against North Korea if necessary, though exactly what such a situation would like like is not entirely clear.
