The U.S. is old, sick and hell bound because of the leadership of President Donald Trump, a new commentary in North Korea's ruling party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Monday.
Like a number of other news outlets in recent days, the North Korean newspaper referenced Trump's speech at the South Korean National Assembly, when he told lawmakers that North Korea was "hell" and personally urged the country's leader Kim Jong Un to give up his pursuit of nuclear weapons to stay in power.
Trump's address to the South Korean parliament is breathing new life into Pyongyang's anti-U.S. propaganda, as are his remarks about "totally destroying" North Korea at the U.N. General Assembly and his tweet vowing "fire and fury" on the nation.
"It is a stark reality that the old and ailing U.S. is heading toward hell," the commentary, which was also quoted in the country's state-run news agency KCNA read. "The mentally deranged money-grabber dared point his finger at the sun," the Rodong Sinmun commentary says, referring to the country's leadership.
"This has made him the criminal who is sentenced to death by the army and people of the DPRK. Those who challenge the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and its social system can never find their place to live under this sky. Rabid dog Trump will certainly be made to pay dearly for his hideous crime," it added, echoing an article published last week in the same newspaper calling Trump a "hideous criminal sentenced to death by the Korean people."
Trump did not respond to the North's latest threats but has been previously annoyed at Pyongyang labeling him as "old."
While in Vietnam as part of his five-country Asia tour in which the threat from North Korea's nuclear development program featured prominently on the agenda, Trump tweeted he'd "never call [Kim] 'short and fat'."
The talks held in Asia came before an expected decision by Trump on whether to reinstate North Korea on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, which he has been pondering for the past few weeks.
North Korea was included in the list in 1988 after the deadly bombing of a South Korean airliner killed more than 100 people and removed in 2008 under President George W. Bush as part of a failed nuclear disarmament deal.
According to the White House, Trump will make a decision on the matter early this week.
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