In his speech before the United Nations’ general assembly in New York on Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump referred to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as “rocket man,” just as he did in a tweet over the weekend.
“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” Trump said in his speech while discussing how the United States could react to North Korea’s attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself for its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” the President said. “The United States is ready, willing, and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary.”
Trump thanked the members of the United Nations Security Council for supporting harsher sanctions against North Korea and called on the international body to do more to reign in Kim.
“It is time for all nations to work together to isolate the Kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior,” he said.
While discussing North Korea, Trump also called out China’s approach to the regime without actually naming that country.
“It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime, but would arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict,” he said. “No nation on Earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles.”
