--- title: Trump Threatens North Korea in UN Speech Transcript description: President Donald Trump used his first United Nation address to threaten North Korea Tuesday canonical: https://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-19T15:14:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T11:47:39.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Trump's Speech Threatening to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea og:description: He also called the country's leader "Rocket Man" og:url: https://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9252142565ec2513/6988de5e86f68e65846e679d/gettyimages-849505398.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UN-ASSEMBLY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Trump's Speech Threatening to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea twitter:description: He also called the country's leader "Rocket Man" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9252142565ec2513/6988de5e86f68e65846e679d/gettyimages-849505398.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Trump's Speech Threatening to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:47 AM UTCPublished: Sep 19, 2017 3:14 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd Annual UN General Assembly in New York on September 19, 2017. US President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd Annual UN General Assembly in New York on September 19, 2017.Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:47 AM UTCPublished: Sep 19, 2017 3:14 PM UTC President Donald Trump threatened North Korea and its leader on Tuesday during his [first United Nation address.](http://time.com/4946276/donald-trump-united-nations-general-assembly/) Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “Rocket Man,” a reference to the country’s recent missile and nuclear tests, and said he was on “a suicide mission.” “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump said, before adding that “hopefully this will not be necessary.” Trump’s comments come after Kim said the nation would continue working on its various weapons programs despite international condemnation. North Korea has also [threaten U.S. territory Guam](http://time.com/4904279/guam-north-korea-enveloping-fire/) and has[ fired missiles over U.S. ally Japan.](http://time.com/4942923/north-korea-japan-missile-kim-jong-un-guam-hokkaido/) Trump also spoke about the treat of terrorism throughout the world and doubled down on his [“America First” ](http://time.com/4844975/america-first-faces-a-big-test/)foreign policy. Read President Trump’s full address to the United Nations here: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read President Trump's Speech Threatening to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea","datePublished":"2017-09-19T15:14:07.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T11:47:39.000Z","description":"He also called the country's leader \"Rocket Man\"","url":"https://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/","keywords":["White House","United Nations","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9252142565ec2513/6988de5e86f68e65846e679d/gettyimages-849505398.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9252142565ec2513/6988de5e86f68e65846e679d/gettyimages-849505398.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UN-ASSEMBLY","caption":"UN-ASSEMBLY","creditText":"Timothy A. 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