North Korea’s foreign minister accused the United States Monday of declaring war against the Kim regime, the sharpest escalation yet of tensions between the two nations.
“Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer,” foreign minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters in New York “He declared a war on our country.”
The comments are the latest escalation of tensions between the two nations, with President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un exchanging insults and threats over the last few months. Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly last week, Trump said that Kim was “on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” and pledged that “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.”
On Saturday, Trump tweeted about Ri’s comments:
Ri responded that Trump’s “rocket man” insult makes “our rocket’s visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more.”
Ri added Monday that North Korea “will have every right to take countermeasures” against America, including shooting down planes not in Korean airspace.
“The question of who will be around much longer will be answered then.”
On Sunday evening, North Korean state media released a propaganda video calling Trump a “madman” and showing doctored shots of U.S. planes and aircraft carriers being shot down by missiles.
