Kim Jong Un calls Trump a ‘mentally deranged US dotard’

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday blasted President Trump as a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard,” warning he would “pay dearly” for his threats at the United Nations to destroy North Korea.

“I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire,” Kim said in a statement filled with colorful insults that responded to Trump’s own calling of the North Korean leader as “rocket man.”

{mosads}Kim referred to Trump as a “gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician” in the statement , which was reported by North Korea’s state news agency KCNA. 

“A frightened dog barks louder,” Kim added.

Pyongyang’s provocation came the same day that Trump announced new sanctions on the isolated country and raises the tensions further between Pyongyang and Washington.

It follows by two days Trump’s own blistering remarks to the UN General Assembly.

“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” Trump said, adding that North Korea would be “totally destroyed” if it attacked the U.S. or its allies.  

On Thursday, however, the move to impose sanctions by Trump suggests he and his administration are still hoping to reach some kind of negotiated solution with North Korea, which has held a series of nuclear tests in recent months that suggest it is strengthening its capabilities.

Trump called for the complete denuclearization of North Korea on Thursday while signing an executive order imposing new sanctions. 

“North Korea’s missiles and weapons development is a grave threat to peace and security in our world, and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal rogue regime,” Trump said, surrounded by East Asian heads of state.

“The brutal North Korean regime does not respect its own citizens or the sovereignty of other nations. A new executive order will cut off sources of revenue that fund North Korea’s efforts to develop the deadliest weapons known to human kind,” he continued. 

North Korea has put the international community on alert over the past few months, conducting a slew of intercontinental ballistic missile tests and sending two over Japanese airspace. 

The U.N. has passed two resolutions recently aimed at squeezing the North Korean economy by cutting off oil, labor and exports.