By Cate Shannon and Colleen Dabrowski
At the 72 U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 19, Donald Trump, President of the United States, threatened genocide. His speech began on a positive note, discussing the strength of the United States, the power of our economy and the authority of the military. Donald Trump’s speech then began to take a more somber turn, discussing terror and violence that “violate every principle on which the United Nations is based.” His speech became more focused, narrowing in on the “depraved regime” in North Korea.
As the speech continued, Trump began discussing nuclear arms. He stressed that North Korea needed to denuclearize, saying, “It is time for all nations to work together to isolate the Kim regime until it ceases its hostile behavior.” Trump continued denouncing the North Korean regime, but the talk soon took a turn. Trump then made a dangerous claim: “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.” Drew University student Alex Smith (‘19), in a discussion with the Acorn, shared his thoughts:
After viewing President Trump’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly, I believe that he addressed the audience with very common rhetoric that we have come to know from him, which is to say a fairly violent message… I am not sure of what the fallout of this speech will bring, but we will have to wait and see.
Saturday, September 23 at 11:08pm, Donald Trump tweeted, “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!” Monday, September 25, North Korean foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, said in a press statement, “Last weekend Trump claimed that our leadership wouldn’t be around much longer. He declared a war on our country.” He continued: “Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country.”
