Of Course Donald Trump Didn't Coin The North Korea 'Rocket Man' Nickname First

The insult is actually more than 11 years old.
LOADINGERROR LOADING

President Donald Trump was not the first to call a North Korean leader by the nickname “Rocket Man.”

Trump used the term to describe the pariah state’s current dictator Kim Jong Un during his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” said Trump. “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.”

He also tweeted the moniker over the weekend:

But British business news magazine The Economist actually used the same nickname to describe the nuclear weapon aspirations of Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, more than 11 years ago:

The cover of The Economist’s July 8, 2006 edition showed Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011, blasting off into the sky above the caption, “Rocket man.”

Twitter users called out Trump for the duplication:

Before You Go

LOADINGERROR LOADING

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot