This Getty photo — which arrives courtesy of the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) — reveals some of the thousands of residents who gathered for an anti-U.S. rally in Pyongyang on Sunday. Together, they chanted support for Kim Jong-un during his ongoing war of words with President Trump (especially regarding the latter’s statements at the U.N.), and the event occurs following a show of force by U.S. bombers flying over waters (north of the demilitarized zone) off North Korea.
The Associated Press reveals that thousands of residents gathered to listen to their nation’s foreign minister calling Trump “a mentally deranged person full of megalomania” with his finger on “the nuclear button.” Although Kim Jong-un’s regime recently celebrated their newfound ability to strap mini-nukes onto long-range missiles, North Korean citizens’ demonstration signs made it clear that they weren’t blaming their leader. Instead, they called for “death to the American imperialists” and “total destruction” of the U.S.:
A huge crowd gathered Saturday in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square, named for the current leader’s grandfather and founder of North Korea. They listened to speeches from senior officials excoriating the United States and its president.
A parade of marchers carried signs with slogans such as “decisive revenge” and “death to the American imperialists.” They shouted phrases such as “total destruction,” according to the Korean Central News Agency, the state news service.
This rally also took place hours after Trump continued to tweet the U.S. into war with this threat: “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!”
Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
Whether Trump’s talking specifically about doing away with North Korean leadership or the nation as a whole, who knows? His tweet follows months of accelerating insults between himself and Kim Jong-un. And he most recently told the U.N. that the U.S. may have “no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” and his use of “totally” would seem telling to anyone who takes his threats seriously.
To this, Kim Jong-un responded that Trump was not only “deranged” but a “dotard” for “insult[ing] me and my country in front of the eyes of the world.” The nation’s foreign minister also threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific because of Trump’s newest economic sanctions, which threatened to “target” those who do business with the nation. And now that Trump’s latest tweet has downgraded Kim Jong-un from “Rocket Man” to “Little Rocket Man,” matters can only grow more volatile.