--- title: Donald Trump Says Kim Jong Un of North Korea Is a Madman description: The war of words between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues. canonical: https://time.com/4953006/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-dotard/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-22T12:47:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T03:22:45.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says Kim Jong Un 'Is Obviously a Madman' og:description: The war of words continues og:url: https://time.com/4953006/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-dotard/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt791a672fe795a2a7/6988dee7656a3f0c01bd1cd1/ap_17223538266679.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Kim Jong Un og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says Kim Jong Un 'Is Obviously a Madman' twitter:description: The war of words continues twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt791a672fe795a2a7/6988dee7656a3f0c01bd1cd1/ap_17223538266679.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says Kim Jong Un 'Is Obviously a Madman' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b8249e6b-1c94-47ca-b078-cf91efd13310&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:22 AM UTCPublished: Sep 22, 2017 12:47 PM UTC  A man watches a television screen showing President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Seoul, South Korea on Aug. 10, 2017. A man watches a television screen showing President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Seoul, South Korea on Aug. 10, 2017. Ahn Young-joon—AP by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:22 AM UTCPublished: Sep 22, 2017 12:47 PM UTC The war of words between [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4952033/trump-nbc-wsj-poll-approval-democrats/) and North Korean leader [Kim Jong Un](http://time.com/4952738/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-north-korea/) continues. On Friday morning, less than a day after [Kim called Trump “deranged” and a “dotard,”](http://time.com/4952750/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-dotard-north-korea/) Trump took to Twitter to declare that the North Korean strongman is “obviously a madman.” “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!” Trump said. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/911175246853664768) [Testy dialogue between the two countries is not unusual](http://time.com/4952819/north-korea-verbal-insults-history/), but the rhetoric between Trump and Kim has grown particularly heated as tensions have escalated. [The U.S. hit North Korea with new sanctions](http://time.com/4951896/trump-north-korea-executive-order-sanctions/) this week to punish the country for its continued development of nuclear weapons, after [Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea](http://time.com/4947990/trump-threatens-north-korea-totally-destroy/) during a speech at the United Nations. [Pyongyang responded by threatening to detonate a hydrogen bomb](http://time.com/4952863/north-korea-kim-jong-un-hydrogen-bomb-pacific-donald-trump-insults-un/) in the Pacific. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4953006/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-dotard/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4953006/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-dotard/"},"headline":"President Trump Says Kim Jong Un 'Is Obviously a Madman'","datePublished":"2017-09-22T12:47:41.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T03:22:45.000Z","description":"The war of words continues","url":"https://time.com/4953006/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-dotard/","keywords":["Donald Trump","North Korea","Kim Jong Un","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt791a672fe795a2a7/6988dee7656a3f0c01bd1cd1/ap_17223538266679.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt791a672fe795a2a7/6988dee7656a3f0c01bd1cd1/ap_17223538266679.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Kim Jong Un","caption":"Donald Trump Kim Jong Un","creditText":"Ahn Young-joon—AP","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/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4953006/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-dotard/","name":"President Trump Says Kim Jong Un 'Is Obviously a Madman'"}}]}] ```