--- title: Read Kim Jong Un's Full Statement to Donald Trump description: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has responded to Trump's speech on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly. canonical: https://time.com/4953210/north-korea-kim-jong-un-speech-donald-trump/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-22T14:59:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:53:05.061Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Kim Jong Un's Entire Response to Donald Trump og:description: Kim calls Trump a 'dotard' and describes him as 'mentally deranged' og:url: https://time.com/4953210/north-korea-kim-jong-un-speech-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea3dc8470f4ff602/6988de19cf40a83c58c496c2/trump-kim-jong-un.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump North Korea og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Kim Jong Un's Entire Response to Donald Trump twitter:description: Kim calls Trump a 'dotard' and describes him as 'mentally deranged' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea3dc8470f4ff602/6988de19cf40a83c58c496c2/trump-kim-jong-un.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Mentally Deranged.' 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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=4b1d7dd9-b632-4b30-a6d6-9934eaa4d6b3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Kim Jong Un Calls President Trump 'Mentally Deranged' After Threat to Destroy North Korea [Watch (HLS stream): Kim Jong Un Calls President Trump 'Mentally Deranged' After Threat to Destroy North Korea](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FQBVi02o.m3u8) (1:41)  _Published 2017-09-21. North Korea's foreign minister has described as "the sound of a dog barking" President Donald Trump's threat to destroy his country._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 22, 2017 2:59 PM UTC North Korea's foreign minister has described as "the sound of a dog barking" President Donald Trump's threat to destroy his country. by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 22, 2017 2:59 PM UTC North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has responded to [President Donald Trump’s speech](http://time.com/4949338/donald-trump-north-korea-un/) on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly. During his speech, the U.S. President described Kim as a “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission,” and said that if “forced to defend itself or its allies, \[the U.S.\] will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” Two days later, Trump issued an executive order expanding the Treasury Department’s ability to target anyone conducting significant trade in goods, services or technology with North Korea and to ban them from the U.S. financial system. In response, a statement by Kim Jong Un was released by KCNA, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency. In his statement, the leader calls Trump [a “dotard”](http://time.com/4952750/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-dotard-north-korea/) — a person in a state of “senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness,” according to Merriam-Webster — and describes him as “mentally deranged.” Read his remarks in full below. --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] [ FOREIGN ] Any comment? Excuse me. The [00:08] United States has great strength and patience. But [00:12] if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no [00:16] choice but to totally destroy North Korea. [00:20] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:23] Any comment for the Trump speech? [ UNKNOWN ] Any [00:23] comments to Trumps speech? Please. [ FOREIGN ] Mister [00:34] Trump called Kim Jong Un " Rocket Boy ". How is the [00:34] response? How is the response. [ FOREIGN ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4953210/north-korea-kim-jong-un-speech-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4953210/north-korea-kim-jong-un-speech-donald-trump/"},"headline":"'Mentally Deranged.' 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