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REUTERS
UNITED NATIONS
US President Donald Trump escalated his stand-off with North Korea over its nuclear challenge on Tuesday, threatening to"totally destroy" the country of 26 million people and mocking its leader, Kim Jong-un, as a"rocket man."
In a hard-edged speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump offered a grim portrait of a world in peril, adopted a more confrontational approach to solving global challenges from Iran to Venezuela, and gave an unabashed defence of US sovereignty.
"The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea," Trump told the 193-member world body, sticking closely to a script. As loud, startled murmurs filled the hall, Trump described Kim in an acid tone, saying,"Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime."
His remarks rattled world leaders gathered in the green-marbled UN General Assembly hall. Trump's most direct military threat to attack North Korea, in his debut appearance at the General Assembly, was his latest expression of concern about Pyongyang's repeated launching of ballistic missiles over Japan and underground nuclear tests.
His advisers say he is concerned about North Korea's advances in missile technology and the few means available for a peaceful response without China's help.
Inside the hall, one man in the audience covered his face with his hands shortly after Trump made his"totally destroy" comment. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom crossed her arms.
"It was the wrong speech, at the wrong time, to the wrong audience," Wallstrom later told the BBC.
Trump did not back down, instead tweeting out the line in his speech vowing to destroy North Korea if needed.
A junior North Korean diplomat sat in the delegation's front-row seat for Trump's speech, the North Korean UN mission said. North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's sabre-rattling rhetoric, with the bare-knuckled style he used to win election last November, was in contrast to the comments of some of his own Cabinet members who have stated a preference for a diplomatic solution.
Democrat Ed Markey of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee denounced Trump's remarks in a CNN interview, saying the president had yet to exhaust his other options in encouraging Pyongyang to negotiate.
"The least we should be able to say is that we tried, we really tried, to avoid a nuclear showdown between our two countries," Markey said.
In a thunderous 41-minute speech, Trump also took aim at Iran's nuclear ambitions and regional influence, Venezuela's collapsing democracy and the threat of Islamist extremists and criticised the Cuban government.
"Major portions of the world are in conflict and some in fact are going to hell," he said.
His speech recalled the fiery nationalist language of his Jan. 20 inaugural address when he pledged to end what he called an"American carnage" of rusted factories and crime.
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20/09/2017
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