--- title: North Korea: Donald Trump Isn't First User of "Rocket Man" description: It turns out that name isn't so original for a North Korean leader. canonical: https://time.com/4948559/donald-trump-rocket-man/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-19T20:05:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:10.755Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Isn't the First To Call a North Korean Leader "Rocket Man." og:description: The Economist beat him to it og:url: https://time.com/4948559/donald-trump-rocket-man/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt584981fc33557b5e/6988de680a4a22135f9cff6b/20060708issuecovfe400_0.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: 20060708issuecovFE400_0 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Isn't the First To Call a North Korean Leader "Rocket Man." twitter:description: The Economist beat him to it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt584981fc33557b5e/6988de680a4a22135f9cff6b/20060708issuecovfe400_0.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Isn't the First to Call a North Korean Leader 'Rocket Man' > 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. ## Video: President Trump Threatens to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea in U.N. Speech [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Threatens to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea in U.N. Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/I4DNTm1m.m3u8) (0:36)  _Published 2017-09-19. President Trump threatened North Korea with total destruction in his first speech to the United Nations, but said that the international body could still prevent war_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 19, 2017 8:05 PM UTC  The Economist  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 19, 2017 8:05 PM UTC President Trump referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “Rocket Man” in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday. Speaking for the first time at the United Nations, Trump said the 33-year-old leader’s [recent missile tests](http://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/) and other aggressive behavior could lead to the U.S. to [“totally destroy”](http://time.com/4947942/trump-totally-destroy-threatens-north-korea-un-speech-transcript/) the country down the road. “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” he said in his first address to the General Assembly. “The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. Trump [coined his latest nickname](http://time.com/4945254/trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/) over the weekend in a tweet. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/909384837018112000) But he’s not the first to use the epithet for a North Korean leader. In fact, Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il was given the nickname on a July 8, 2006, cover of The Economist, a British business news magazine. The [title](http://www.economist.com/node/21520925) of the cover? “Rocket man.” Kim Jong-il died in 2011, and was succeeded by Kim Jong Un. But he too had a preoccupation with developing nuclear weapons; it was under his leadership that North Korea left the United Nations’ Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003 and began operating nuclear weapon facilities, ultimately testing seven ballistic missiles, according to a chronology [provided by the Arms Control Association. ](https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/dprkchron) A representative from the _Economist_ did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4948559/donald-trump-rocket-man/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4948559/donald-trump-rocket-man/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Isn't the First to Call a North Korean Leader 'Rocket Man'","datePublished":"2017-09-19T20:05:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:10.755Z","description":"The Economist beat him to it","url":"https://time.com/4948559/donald-trump-rocket-man/","keywords":["Donald Trump","North Korea","Kim Jong Un","kim jong il","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt584981fc33557b5e/6988de680a4a22135f9cff6b/20060708issuecovfe400_0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt584981fc33557b5e/6988de680a4a22135f9cff6b/20060708issuecovfe400_0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"20060708issuecovFE400_0","caption":"","creditText":"The Economist","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/4948559/donald-trump-rocket-man/","name":"Donald Trump Isn't the First to Call a North Korean Leader 'Rocket Man'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Threatens to 'Totally Destroy' North Korea in U.N. 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