The Trump administration ordered new sanctions Thursday against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, promising to squeeze North Korean industries and cut off the country’s access to the international banking system. Trump said China had agreed to participate in the sanctions—a potentially major step, since China is North Korea’s main trading partner—though Chinese officials declined to confirm whether Trump’s claim was true. The new sanctions come after Trump mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “Rocket Man” during a speech at the U.N. General Assembly this week, threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea—a nation of 25 million people. On Friday, North Korean state television read a statement attributed to Kim in which he called Trump “a frightened dog” and a “gangster fond of playing with fire.”
Ri Chun-hee: “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.”
North Korea also said Kim was considering a plan to explode a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean in response to U.S. provocations.