Missile-mad Kim Jong-un really is the Rocket Man as explosive new stats reveal he loves nothing more than watching nukes
TRIGGER-happy Kim Jong-un really is the Rocket Man as shocking statistics reveal he loves nothing more than watching nuclear missile launches.
Donald Trump gave the dictator the cheeky title last month claiming he was "mentally unstable and should have been handled" years ago.
Now it looks like the US President was right all along as the official figures show HALF of the North Korean leader's 75 public appearance so far this year have been related to military activities.
That's the highest level recorded since he took power at the end of 2011.
Kim dedicated just over a fifth of his activity to handling his country's failing economy, the lowest portion to date, clearly indicating a shift in his regime’s priorities.
In July, North Korea successfully tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) on separate occasions for the first time in its history - claiming the US mainland was now within reach.
Kim supervised both launches and reportedly celebrated the rocket scientists with lavish banquet.
Since then, Kim has supervised the firing of three short-range ballistic missiles that flew into the Sea of Japan and of two separate launches of a Hwasong-12 rocket that before landing in the Pacific Ocean.
North Korean scientists also conducted a hydrogen bomb test, the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date.
Earlier this week an anonymous official from the rogue state has said peace talks with the US are off the table until Kim can “counter” US aggression with a nuke to strike urban centres like Washington DC and New York City.
"Before we can engage in diplomacy with the Trump administration, we want to send a clear message that the DPRK has a reliable defensive and offensive capability to counter any aggression from the United States," the official reportedly told CNN on Tuesday.
The official added that an above-ground nuclear detonation- which is feared will take place over the Pacific - would be part of that "message".
North Korea has also hit at reports President Trump is planning to strengthen his military's nuclear might.
A state-authorised editorial from KCNA reads: "The US is the only nuclear war criminal as it developed nuclear weapons for the first time in the world and inflicted untold nuclear disaster upon humankind with nukes.
"The US is an empire of evil that should have been eliminated from the earth long ago after being given severe punishment of the international community for its thrice-cursed crimes such as gravely infringing on global peace and security.
"The US moves to dominate the world by force of nukes have reached their height under the reign of old lunatic Trump.
"This is a revelation of the US-style brigandish logic that all the countries of the world should live like slaves before its nuclear sticks or die."
Top diplomats in the US and Japan agreed on Tuesday to continue to use economic pressure against North Korea in an attempt to get the rogue nuclear state to sit down at the negotiating table.
"We must, however, with our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere, be prepared for the worst should diplomacy fail," said US Undersecretary of State John Sullivan in a Tuesday joint press conference with Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama.
Potty Kim Jong-un warned this week's America's joint air and sea exercises with Japan and South Korea have hardened his beliefs that the US and its allies "should be tamed with fire."
In a statement published through its state media, Pyongyang said the military drills "lets us take our hand closer to the 'trigger' for taking the toughest countermeasure".
The words are a direct response to two US Air Force supersonic heavy bombers being flown over the Korean peninsula in a show of force and separate sea manoeuvres involving the US and Japanese navies.
Two B-1B Lancers based in Guam flew a mission in the vicinity of the Sea of Japan, staging the first night-time joint aviation exercises with Japan and South Korea the US Pacific Air Forces.
North Korea has threatened to fire a salvo of intermediate range missiles toward the US Pacific island territory.
It is situated around 1,500 miles to the west of the Philippines and just over 2,000 miles from North Korea.
Crucially, the island is also a strategic US military outpost and more than 6,000 US service personnel.
American military bases occupy nearly 30 per cent of Guam's land, including the Andersen Air Force - home to a host of nuclear bombers - and the Naval Base Guam.
Yesterday, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said there's "great concern" about Americans who live on the island.
Speaking at a White House news conference he said: "Right now we think the threat is manageable " but added the situation would become more problematic over time if North Korea's capability "grows beyond where it is today."
State propaganda in the hermit country also warned citizens to prepare for an allied invasion - focusing its anger on nearby Japan.
The North Korea mouthpiece claims Japan is attempting a “reinvasion of the Asia-Pacific region”.
It states: “The real intention of Japan, which plays up the DPRK’s (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) ‘threat’ and clamours for a ‘preemptive strike’ against the latter, has fully been revealed already. Such reckless acts will put Japan in jeopardy.
“The DPRK’s toughest counteractions include a warning not only to the US, which gravely threatens the former’s rights to sovereignty and existence, but also to Japan which acts rashly, toeing the US line, without knowing what would happen to itself.
“Japan had better consider the DPRK’s warning carefully.”
Two key officials involved in North Korea’s nuclear and missile program were reportedly nowhere to be seen during public events this week, fuelling speculation that another missile launch is imminent.
Ri Man-gon, supervisor for the nuclear missile development, and Kim Rak-gyom, the head of the strategic rocket forces, were noticeably missing at a mass rally in Pyongyang and a celebration for the anniversary of the Worker’s Party of Korea
North Korea could wipe out four million people within MINUTES of launching a nuclear strike, shock research has found.
A new report says Kim Jong-un's deadly nuke arsenal has the ability to wreak apocalyptic havoc on neighbours South Korea and Japan.
The analysis by North Korea monitoring group assessed potential scenarios that could play out if war-hungry Kim acts on his threats to destroy his Western enemies.
A worst case situation is based on the assumption that Kim has amassed 25 nukes with a strength of 15 kilotons, the same as the Hiroshima bomb dropped by the United States at the end of WW2.
If just a few of these made it through defences to detonate over Seoul or Tokyo, the potential devastation would be catastrophic.
"Multiple nuclear weapon detonations on both Seoul and Tokyo based on the current North Korea yield estimates could result in anywhere from 400,000 to 2 million deaths", the report's author Michael J. Zagurek Jr. wrote.
“With possible thermonuclear yields with the same number of weapons, the number of deaths could range between 1.3 and 3.8 million", he added.
This could lead to millions of people dying within minutes of the initial blast.
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