New Delhi: One is a criminal. The other is deranged. At least that is what US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have been calling each other. As tensions between the two nations reached new highs this week, their discourse reached new lows.
The most recent exchange of expletives began when Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly for the first time on Tuesday. He called the North Korean leadership - and thereby Kim himself - a band of criminals. "Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime. No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles," said Trump in a no-holds-barred speech. Many say it was expected. After all, the North Korean ambassador left even before the US President began his speech.
Kim though was not expected to leave the verbal assault unanswered. And he didn't. "A frightened dog barks louder," he said in what South Korean officials say was the first-ever address to the world community by any North Korean leader. "I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire." For the uninitiated, 'dotard' roughly translates to an old person who is either weak or senile.
The verbal duel between the 33-year-old Kim and 71-year-old Trump has reached a crecendo after North Korea accelerated its missile development program. On July 28, the country sent ripples around the world when it launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Its most recent 'act of defiance' was on September 3 when conducted its sixth nuclear test despite UN sanctions. And the sanctions have only increased with the latest financial embargos being announced by Trump on Thursday.
At a time when one leader has promised 'fire and fury' and the other may be looking at testing hydrogen bomb in the Pacific, the world community is praying for diplomacy - rather than brute name calling - to tide over tensions.
