Donald Trump, North Korea: POTUS threatens to ‘totally destroy’ nation ... again

AS TENSIONS rise between the US and North Korea, Donald Trump has launched another attack on Kim Jong-un. It wouldn’t be the first time.

US President Donald Trump said North Korea’s nuclear development must be stopped. Picture: Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP

PRESIDENT Trump’s decision to blast the “rogue nation” of North Korea during his inaugural address to the United Nations General Assembly this week has angered Kim Jong-un.

During the speech, Mr Trump vowed to “totally destroy North Korea” if the country so provokes him, Fox News reported.

He also said North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is “on a suicide mission,” using the nickname “Rocket Man” to describe him.

The North Korean ambassador to the UN left the room ahead of Trump’s speech to boycott it.

And North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters late on Wednesday that Mr Trump’s speech was like “the sound of a dog barking.”

He also said he felt “sorry” for Mr Trump’s aides.

“There is a saying that goes: ‘Even when dogs back, the parade goes on,’” he said. “If [Trump] was thinking about surprising us with dog-barking sounds, then he is clearly dreaming.”

Ri is slated to address the UN General Assembly Friday.

Kim Jong-un pictured during North Korea’s latest missile launch last week. Picture: KCNA/Ap

Officials say North Korea is getting closer to achieving its long-stated goal of building up its nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting the US.

And as the North conducts test and reportedly moved a possible intercontinental ballistic missile closer to the west in the middle of the night, Trump has chastised the nation on social media.

Here’s a look at what Trump has said about North Korea over time.

US ‘LOCKED AND LOADED’

Mr Trump took to social media on August 11 to proclaim that the US military is “locked and loaded” in case “North Korea act[s] unwisely.”

‘FIRE AND FURY’ ISN’T ‘TOUGH ENOUGH’

With the threat of nuclear violence growing, Mr Trump warned North Korea on August 8 that he would unleash “fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

But when tensions continued to rise and North Korea threatened to attack Guam, Trump said maybe that comment wasn’t “tough enough.”

“Let’s see what [Kim Jong-in] does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before — what will happen in North Korea,” Mr Trump said on August 10.

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

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Mr Trump is “sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong-un can understand, because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language.”

‘NOT GETTING AWAY WITH IT’

Mr Trump also said this week that Kim Jong-un has “disrespected our country greatly.”

“He has said things that are horrific. And with me, he’s not getting away with it,” Mr Trump said. “He got away with it for a long time, between him and his family. He’s not getting away with it. It’s a whole new ball game.”

Mr Trump promised a tough crackdown on North Korea in his UN address earlier this week. Picture: Timothy A Clary/AFP

‘STRATEGIC PATIENCE IS OVER’

After meeting with the South Korean president in Washington, DC, in June, Mr Trump said that the “era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed.”

“Frankly, that patience is over,” he said.

As Mr Trump made these comments, the US was rocked with the death of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American college student who suffered extensive brain damage while being held captive for more than a year.

The era of strategic patience with the North Korea regime has failed. That patience is over. We are working closely with.... pic.twitter.com/nCZ51HnIdx

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

‘WORSE THINGS’ THAN ASSASSINATING KIM

In an interview with CBS News during the presidential campaign, Mr Trump said he could “get China to make (Kim) disappear in one form or another very quickly.”

When asked if he was talking about assassinating the North Korean dictator, Mr Trump shrugged.

“Well, you know, I’ve heard of worse things, frankly. I mean, this guy’s a bad dude – and don’t underestimate him,” Mr Trump said.

“Any young guy that can take over from his father with all those generals and everybody else that probably wants the position, this is not somebody to be underestimated.”

‘WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH SPEAKING?’

Mr Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Atlanta that should Kim want to come to the US, he would be “accept[ed].”

“I wouldn’t go there, that I can tell you. If he came here, I’d accept him, but I wouldn’t give him a state dinner like we do for China and all these other people that rip us off when we give them these big state dinners,” Mr Trump said in June 2016.

“What the hell is wrong with speaking?” Mr Trump said, referencing the criticism he’s received for being so willing to talk with North Korea. “It’s called opening a dialogue.”

‘MANIAC’

During a GOP presidential debate in September 2015, Mr Trump railed on the “maniac” in North Korea while answering a question about Planned Parenthood and women’s health issues.

North Korea has sparked global condemnation with its missile launches including this one in July. Picture: KCNA/AP

“Nobody ever mentions North Korea, where you have this maniac sitting there, and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea,” Mr Trump said.

“You have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, ‘I’m ready to use them,’ and we don’t even mention it,” he continued.

CHINA NEEDS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

Even before he was president, Mr Trump urged China to step in and help alleviate problems with North Korea.

“North Korea is reliant on China. China could solve this problem easily if they wanted to but they have no respect for our leaders,” he tweeted in March 2013.

In April 2013, Mr Trump continued that line of thinking, adding that “North Korea can’t survive, or even eat, without the help of China.”

He then accused China of “taunting” the US.

‘WACK JOB’

In April 2013, Mr Trump urged then-President Barack Obama to “be very careful” with the “28-year-old wack job in North Korea.”

“At some point we may have to get very tough,” he tweeted.

Our President must be very careful with the 28 year old wack job in North Korea. At some point we may have to get very tough-blatant threats

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2013

‘NEGOTIATE LIKE CRAZY’

Mr Trump warned that the US needed to “do something to stop” North Korea in 1999 during an interview with the late Tim Russert on Meet the Press.

“Do you want to do it in five years when they have warheads all over the place, every one of them pointing to New York City, to Washington and every one of us, is that when you want to do it, or do you want to do something now?” he said.

“You’d better do it now. And if they think you’re serious … they’ll negotiate and it’ll never come to that.”

He said then that if he ever became president, the first step he would take would be to “negotiate like crazy” to make sure that the country would “get the best deal possible.”

Mr Trump also predicted then that in “three or four years,” North Korea would have weapons aimed all over the world, including at the US.

‘NO MORE TALKING’

After North Korea said it successfully launched a missile over Japan, a US ally, and into the Pacific Ocean, Mr Trump initially had a surprisingly subdued response.

“Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Trump said in a written statement after North Korea’s missile soared almost 1,700 miles into the Pacific Ocean, triggering alert warnings in northern Japan and shudders throughout Northeast Asia. “All options are on the table.”

The missile launch was said to be a “precursor” to North Korea’s containment of the US territory of Guam by Kim, according to state-run media.

But in a tweet Wednesday morning, the president suggested the US is finished “talking” to North Korea.

“The US has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer,” Mr Trump tweeted.

- with the Associated Press

This article has been reprinted with permission from Fox News.