President Trump, in new dig, mocks North Korea leader as 'Rocket Man'

SOMERSET, N.J.  — President Donald Trump on Sunday mocked the leader of nuclear-armed North Korea as "Rocket Man" while White House advisers said the isolated nation would face destruction unless it shelves its weapons programs and bellicose threats.

The warnings came a day after Kim Jong Un pledged to continue those programs, saying North Korea is nearing its goal of "equilibrium" in military force with the United States.

North Korea will be high on the agenda for world leaders this coming week at the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, President Trump's biggest moment on the world stage since his inauguration in January.

President Trump is scheduled to address the world body, which he has criticized as weak and incompetent, on Tuesday.

President Trump, who spent the weekend at his New Jersey golf club, tweeted that he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed North Korea during their latest telephone conversation Saturday.

Asked about President Trump's description of Kim, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said "Rocket Man" was "a new one and I think maybe for the president." But, he said, "that's where the rockets are coming from. Rockets, though, we ought to probably not laugh too much about because they do represent a great threat to all."

McMcaster said Kim is "going to have to give up his nuclear weapons because the president has said he's not going to tolerate this regime threatening the United States and our citizens with a nuclear weapon."

Asked if that meant President Trump would launch a military strike, McMaster said "he's been very clear about that, that all options are on the table."

Some doubt that Kim would ever agree to surrender his arsenal.

"I think that North Korea is not going to give up its program with nothing on the table," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Kim has threatened Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, and has fired missiles over Japan, a U.S. ally. North Korea also recently tested its most powerful bomb.

The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously twice in recent weeks to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea, including targeting shipments of oil and other fuel used in missile testing. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said North Korea was starting to "feel the pinch."

President Trump, in a tweet, asserted that long lines for gas were forming in North Korea, and he said that was "too bad."

Haley warned of a tougher U.S. response to future North Korean provocations, and said she would be happy to turn the matter over to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis "because he has plenty of military options."

Mattis said after Kim tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this month that the U.S. would answer any threat from the North with a "massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming."

President Trump has threatened to rain "fire and fury" on North Korea if the North continued with its threats. Haley said that wasn't an empty threat from the president but she declined to describe the president's intentions.

"If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behavior, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed and we all know that and none of us want that," Haley said. "None of us want war. But we also have to look at the fact that you are dealing with someone who is being reckless, irresponsible and is continuing to give threats not only to the United States, but to all their allies, so something is going to have to be done."

The White House said after President Trump's tweet that he and Moon were committed to strengthening deterrence and defense capabilities, and maximizing economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea.

But Haley said the Security Council had "pretty much exhausted" all its options.