North Korean Media Calls Trump A 'Lunatic,' Threatens South Korea; 4 Other Similar Instances

The North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun, on Thursday, called U.S. President Donald Trump a "lunatic" and a "reckless war maniac" and said he could mount a preemptive strike against North Korea to divert attention from the political crisis at home.

The newspaper report said: "No one can predict what a reckless action Trump will take as he is in the grip of the worst ruling crisis. Due to the hysterical action of Trump, a rough and reckless war maniac, the same extremely dangerous situation as the one in April last when the U.S. was rumored to mount a ‘preemptive strike at the north’ is being created on the Korean peninsula."

Read: Donald Trump Says Otto Warmbier Death Caused By North Korea's 'Brutal Regime'

The article specified Trump was in a tough situation, and following in the footsteps of his predecessors in escalating tensions with other nations in order to distract from the increasing domestic crisis. "It is the trite method of the successive U.S. rulers to find a way out in unleashing a war of aggression whenever the ruling crisis was aggravated," the article said.

This is stark contrast to the comments during the 2016 presidential campaign when Trump was praised for being "wise" by a state media outlet in North Korea.

The latest newspaper article also warned South Korea, one of the major U.S. allies in the region, against supporting Trump in his endeavors, stating "they would be plunged into the worst disaster."

"The South Korean authorities had better understand that if they persist in the war drills against the north, pursuant to lunatic Trump, they would be plunged into the worst disaster," the article said.

The Rodong Sinmun news article followed the news of Otto Warmbier’s death, the U.S. student who was returned to the country last week after being detained in North Korea for 17 months. He had been in a coma soon after his March 2016 sentencing to 15 years in prison with hard labor after he stole a propaganda sign from the Pyongyang hotel he was staying at. He was returned to the U.S. on June 13 and died on June 19.

The U.S. did not immediately retaliate or say what they would do about Warmbier’s death, but Trump responded by blaming Kim Jong Un’s communist regime for the student’s death. Trump also blamed his predecessor Barack Obama and the U.S.’ ally China for not exerting enough pressure on North Korea to free the student, calling his death "a total disgrace."

Read: South Korea To Start Mass Production Of Hit-To-Kill Missile Interceptor Amid North Korea’s Nuclear Threats

This is not the first time U.S. leaders or its ally South Korea have been a target of threats and insults from North Korean media outlets.

North Korean media commented on former South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and her administration in 2013, saying "The group is, indeed, made up of ignorant hooligans hell-bent on hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and on eclipsing the bright sunlight."

In May this year, a separate state newspaper suggested Donald Trump had been ignorant about North Korea. Earlier this month, an unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman told Korean Central News Agency that Trump's decision to pull out of an international climate change agreement was "the height of egotism."

Referring to the United States and South Korea in 2013, Kim Jong Un had advised his soldiers to "break the waists of the crazy enemies."