North Korea claimed that President Donald Trump "begged for nuclear war" in his first visit to Asia as president.
In a statement issued through government mouthpiece the Korean Central News Agency, as cited by Reuters, Pyongyang said the U.S. President's trip "laid bare his true nature as destroyer of world peace."
"His current trip to our surrounding region is a warmonger's visit for confrontation to rid the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) of its self-defensive nuclear deterrence," North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in the statement.
Trump is currently on a tour of Asia, taking in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, during which he has urged allies to increase sanctions against North Korea.
In a speech in South Korea Wednesday, Trump warned North Korea not to test the patience of the U.S.
"The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer, they are putting your regime in grave danger," Trump said about North Korea during an address at South Korea's National Assembly in Seoul. "Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face."
He called on nations to stop financing and trading with North Korea.
"Together we have in our power to finally liberate this region and the world from this very serious nuclear menace, but it will require collective action, collective strength and collective devotion to winning the peace," Trump said.
In its statement Saturday, the North Korean government renewed its description of Trump as a "dotard." Trump has in speeches and tweets taunted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "rocket man."
Pyongyang described Trump's trip as "nothing but a business trip by a warmonger to enrich the monopolies of the U.S. defense industry."
Tensions have increased between North Korea and the U.S. since Trump became president. North Korea has conducted tests of ballistic missiles which Pyongyang claims could hit the U.S. mainland. Trump has threatened to rain "fire and fury" on North Korea in response to the rogue state's rhetoric.
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