North Korea calls Donald Trump a 'dotard' over his Jerusalem move
Pyongyang had used the term, considered derogatory, at least twice in the past and it did not go down well with the US president.
North Korea has yet again called US President Donald Trump a "dotard" over his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Heaping scorn on the American leader's move, the hermit kingdom said the president's announcement was "reckless" and "wicked".
This is not the first time the North, known for its colourful abuse against its opponents and critics, called Trump a "dotard", meaning a senile or old person. In the past, Pyongyang used the term, a not-so-frequently-used one and considered derogatory, at least twice.
Since it was used by the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the first time in September, dictionary searches also rose sharply.
In the latest, Pyongyang's state-run mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said there would be serious consequences following Washington's step.
"The decision by US president Trump to recognise Kuds as the capital of Israel and to move the US embassy there well deserves a global condemnation and rejection as it is an open defiance of and an insult to the international legitimacy and to a unanimous will of the international society," read a KCNA report attributing the remarks to a foreign ministry spokesperson.
"This decision of the US is not so surprising as it came from a dotard who had cried out for 'total destruction' of a sovereign state at a sacred UN forum," added the KCNA. "The US should bear full responsibility for all the consequences of tension and instability that will be entailed in the Middle East region owing to its reckless and highhanded act."
Trump had earlier announced that Washington would unilaterally consider Jerusalem, a holy city for both Israelis and Palestinians, as the Israeli capital. This had sparked widespread condemnation from the Arab world and elsewhere.
Also, Trump, not the one to take any insults lightly, is yet to respond to the North's latest blasting. When Pyongyang's called him a "dotard" previously, the American president wrote on Twitter: "Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me 'old' when I would NEVER call him 'short and fat'? Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen."
