--- title: Nikki Haley Defends 'Rocket Man' Nickname for Kim Jong-un description: Nikki Haley defended President Trump's speech to the United Nations and said his "Rocket Man" nickname for Kim Jong-un has been effective. canonical: https://time.com/4949432/nikki-haley-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-20T13:21:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:30:31.086Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nikki Haley Defends Trump's 'Rocket Man' Nickname for Kim Jong-un: 'It Worked' og:description: "Every other international community now is referring to him as Rocket Man" og:url: https://time.com/4949432/nikki-haley-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19f7633978cf1c7c/6988de780b72e347d86ef818/nikki-haley-rocket-man.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2041 og:image:height: 1148 og:image:alt: UN Security Council Holds An Emergency Meeting On North Korean Threat og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nikki Haley Defends Trump's 'Rocket Man' Nickname for Kim Jong-un: 'It Worked' twitter:description: "Every other international community now is referring to him as Rocket Man" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19f7633978cf1c7c/6988de780b72e347d86ef818/nikki-haley-rocket-man.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nikki Haley Defends Trump's 'Rocket Man' Nickname for Kim Jong-un: 'It Worked' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 20, 2017 1:21 PM UTC  Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, delivers remarks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea on Sept. 4, 2017 in New York City. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, delivers remarks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea on Sept. 4, 2017 in New York City. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 20, 2017 1:21 PM UTC U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley defended [President Donald Trump’s speech](http://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/) to the U.N. General Assembly and said his [“Rocket Man” nickname](http://time.com/4945254/trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/) for Kim Jong-un has been effective. “I tell you, George, it worked. I was talking to a president of an African country yesterday and he actually cited Rocket Man back to me,” [she told ](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/nikki-haley-speaks-north-korea-trumps-address-49972398)[George Stephanopoulos](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/nikki-haley-speaks-north-korea-trumps-address-49972398) on _Good Morning America_ on Wednesday. “This is a way of getting people to talk about \[Kim Jong-un\], but every other international community now is referring to him as Rocket Man.” Haley said Trump’s speech on Tuesday—in which he threatened to “totally destroy North Korea”—was “honest.” “People in countries don’t want to hear it, but here is a man who continues to test ballistic missiles. He continues to test, now, hydrogen bombs. He continues to threaten our allies,” she said. “So if you want to talk about who’s been giving the threats, it’s certainly been the Kim regime.” > [](https://twitter.com/GMA/status/910464468248780801) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4949432/nikki-haley-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4949432/nikki-haley-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/"},"headline":"Nikki Haley Defends Trump's 'Rocket Man' Nickname for Kim Jong-un: 'It Worked'","datePublished":"2017-09-20T13:21:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:30:31.086Z","description":"\"Every other international community now is referring to him as Rocket Man\"","url":"https://time.com/4949432/nikki-haley-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/","keywords":["North Korea","White House","United Nations","UN","Donald Trump","Nikki Haley","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19f7633978cf1c7c/6988de780b72e347d86ef818/nikki-haley-rocket-man.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19f7633978cf1c7c/6988de780b72e347d86ef818/nikki-haley-rocket-man.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UN Security Council Holds An Emergency Meeting On North Korean Threat","caption":"UN Security Council Holds An Emergency Meeting On North Korean Threat","creditText":"Stephanie Keith/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/north-korea/","name":"North Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4949432/nikki-haley-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/","name":"Nikki Haley Defends Trump's 'Rocket Man' Nickname for Kim Jong-un: 'It Worked'"}}]}] ```