UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States will be forced to ‘totally destroy’ North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear challenge, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a ‘rocket man’ on a suicide mission. Loud murmurs filled the green-marbled UN General Assembly hall when Trump issued his sternest warning yet to North Korea, whose ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests have rattled the globe. Unless North Korea backs down, he said, “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” “Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said. North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks. A junior North Korean diplomat remained in the delegation’s front-row seat for Trump’s speech, the North Korean UN mission said. In his first appearance at the annual gathering of world leaders, the president used a 41-minute speech to take aim also at Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional influence, Venezuela’s collapsing democracy and the threat of Islamic extremists. He also criticized the Cuban government. But his strongest words were directed at North Korea. He urged United Nations member states to work together to isolate the Kim government until it ceases its ‘hostile’ behaviour. He said North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles ‘threatens the entire world with unthinkable cost of human life’. In what may have been a veiled prod at China, the North’s major trading partner, Trump said, “It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime but would arm, supply and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict.” Turning to Iran, Trump called the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, was an embarrassment and hinted that he may not recertify the agreement when it comes up for a mid-October deadline. “I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it,” he said. He called Iran an ‘economically depleted rogue state’ that exports violence. Turning to Venezuela, Trump called the collapsing situation there ‘completely unacceptable’ and said the United States cannot stand by and watch. He warned the United States was considering what further actions it can take. “We cannot stand by and watch,” he said. Shortly before Trump’s speech, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for statesmanship to avoid war with North Korea. “This is the time for statesmanship,” said the former Portuguese PM. Published in Daily Times, September 20th 2017.