This is what the relationship has come to between two of the most powerful people in the world.
In a social media post that must rank amongst his most passive-aggressive to date, US President Donald Trump has responded to being insulted by North Korea’s foreign ministry by throwing an insult of his own in the direction of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
In a tweet posted from Vietnam during an 11-day trip to Asia, Trump said: “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!”
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2017
Trump’s tweet followed an official statement from the North Korean foreign ministry on Saturday, which read, according to the Associated Press: “Reckless remarks by an old lunatic like Trump will never scare us or stop our advance.”
Other translations of the statement referred to Trump as a “dotard”, a term long associated with an elderly or senile person, which was also used by North Korea in relation to Trump after he labelled Kim Jong-un “Rocket Man” earlier this year.
Trump later adopted a somewhat softer tone towards Kim Jong-un in Hanoi hours after sending the tweet when asked if developing a friendship with the North Korean leader was a possibility.
“That might be a strange thing to happen but it’s a possibility,” he said.
“If it did happen it could be a good thing I can tell you for North Korea, but it could also be good for a lot of other places and be good for the rest the world.
“It could be something that could happen. I don’t know if it will but it would be very, very nice.”
Trump is scheduled to visit Manila on the final leg of his Asian trip on Sunday before returning to the United States.
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