From the armada to 'Rocket Man': A brief history of Trump's war of words with North Korea
This year, the world has witnessed President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un trading barbs that, while including nicknames and new vocabulary words, also openly suggest war and destruction.
Let’s take a trip back to look at some of the threats and name-calling.
(Want to see what this months-long exchange would look like over text message? USA TODAY’s Jim Sergent has you covered.)
The armada
As tensions rose over North Korea’s ongoing missiles testing, the president threatened that an armada would be sent to handle the situation.
“We are sending an armada, very powerful,” he said in an interview with Fox Business.
But that turned out to be an empty threat. The following week, it was revealed that the strike carrier group Trump had referenced was actually 3,000 miles away from the Korean peninsula.
A nuclear program at its ‘maximum pace’
On April 28, Trump suggested to Reuters that a “major, major conflict” between the two countries was possible, because of North Korea’s ongoing development of its nuclear and ballistic missiles program.
While Trump then said he would be willing to meet with Kim under the “right circumstances” and called the leader a “smart cookie,” North Korea didn’t mince words. It said it would up its nuclear testing to its “maximum pace” over sanctions.
“Now that the U.S. is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK … the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence,†the country said in a statement on April 30.
‘Nonsense’
After North Korea said it had launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile in early July, Trump went into a tizzy on Twitter on July 3:
North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017
….and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017
The president also jabbed at trade between China and North Korea, saying that it had risen in the first quarter of this year.
Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40% in the first quarter. So much for China working with us – but we had to give it a try!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2017
‘Fire and fury’ vs. ‘bereft of reason’
After the sanctions against North Korea were in place, the rhetoric heated up.
“The U.S.’ villainous illegal actions against our country and people will be reciprocated by thousands-fold,” the country said in a statement on Aug. 7. “If it thinks that it will be safe because it is across an ocean, there is no bigger misunderstanding than that.”
The country then threatened the U.S. territory of Guam, leading Trump to lash out.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” he said on Aug. 8. Kim “has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
North Korea’s army retorted that Trump lacked reason.
“Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him,” a statement from North Korean Gen. Kim Rak Gyom said on Aug. 9.
‘Locked and loaded’
As the escalation of the war of words continued, Trump vowed in an Aug. 11 tweet that the U.S. military was ready.
Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2017
Later that day, the president told reporters that Kim would not get away with his nuclear threats.
“If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat … or if he does anything with respect to Guam, or any place else that is an American territory or an America ally, he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast,” he said.
Rocket Man
Throughout the following month, North Korea launched a missile over Japan and claimed they had tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb.
That led to Trump’s new nickname for Kim: “Rocket Man.” First put out in a tweet this week, the president then used it in his speech on Tuesday before the United Nations General Assembly. He also threatened to wipe out the country.
“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump said. “Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”
Dotard/Madman
Kim replied to the president’s threats this week in his own statement, calling Trump a “frightened dog” and using an archaic word in his attack.
“I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire,” Kim said in an official statement on Thursday. (Dotard, according to Merriam-Webster, means a person who is in a “state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.”)
The president replied in kind on Friday morning.
Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
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