--- description: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called President Donald Trump a "dotard" in response to Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly title: Kim Jong Un Called President Trump a 'Dotard.' What Does That Mean? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0437b31ca9626621/6988dedb8fd2eef42d358f70/donald-trump-un.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [North Korea](/tag/north-korea/) ## North Korea Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Kim Jong Un Called President Trump a 'Dotard.' What Does That Mean? by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 21, 2017 11:35 PM CUT  US President Donald Trump gestures during speech delivered to UN 72nd General Assembly. US President Donald Trump gestures during speech delivered to UN 72nd General Assembly.Pacific Press—LightRocket via Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 21, 2017 11:35 PM CUT North Korean leader [Kim Jong Un](http://time.com/4945254/trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-rocket-man/ "undefined") called President Donald Trump a “dotard” in response to [Trump’s speech](http://time.com/4949338/donald-trump-north-korea-un/ "undefined") on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly. “I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue,” Kim said in a [statement](http://time.com/4952738/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-north-korea/ "undefined") from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency. “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.” Following the release of the statement, [Merriam-Webster](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/911003233828659201 "undefined") said online that searches for the definition of the word dotard are “high as a kite.” According to Merriam-Webster, a dotard describes a person who is in a state of “senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4952750/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-dotard-north-korea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4952750/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-dotard-north-korea/"},"headline":"Kim Jong Un Called President Trump a 'Dotard.' What Does That Mean?","datePublished":"2017-09-21T23:35:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:32:58.368Z","description":"Searches for the definition of 'dotard' spiked on Merriam-Webster","url":"https://time.com/4952750/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-dotard-north-korea/","keywords":["North Korea","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0437b31ca9626621/6988dedb8fd2eef42d358f70/donald-trump-un.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0437b31ca9626621/6988dedb8fd2eef42d358f70/donald-trump-un.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Donald Trump gestures during speech delivered","caption":"US President Donald Trump gestures during speech delivered","creditText":"Pacific Press—LightRocket via 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/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/north-korea/","name":"North Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4952750/kim-jong-un-donald-trump-dotard-north-korea/","name":"Kim Jong Un Called President Trump a 'Dotard.' What Does That Mean?"}}]}] ```