WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump issued an extraordinary threat during a nationalistic and aggressive first address to the United Nations, warning that the U.S. might “totally destroy” North Korea if dictator Kim Jong Un, whom he belittlingly called “Rocket Man,” strikes against the U.S. or its allies.

The threat was the most important moment of a speech that veered between an emphasis on respect for the “sovereignty” of individual countries and a demand that “rogue” countries North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba change their behaviour or face consequences from the international community.

“If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph,” Trump said.

Trump merely hinted that he might withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, and he did not specify what action he might take against Venezuela. On “depraved” North Korea, however, he offered his most explicit and most bellicose words about any international matter to date — threatening not merely to demolish the regime but the entire country.

“No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles. 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,” Trump said. “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary.”

The threat represented the latest escalation in a roller-coaster of Trump rhetoric toward the Kim regime. Trump has both threatened nuclear annihilation — promising “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if Kim so much as continued to threaten to the U.S. — and spoken more softly, suggesting that negotiations might be possible and that military action was not imminent.

The new threat came during a period of heightened tension over Kim’s weapons programs. North Korea fired a missile over Japan on Friday. On Monday, the U.S. flew bombers and stealth jets over the Korean peninsula.

Trump’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, issued a similar threat of destruction the day before his speech. But Trump’s words were remarkable for a formal presidential address to the world body. So was his use of a disparaging nickname for Kim. “Rocket Man” had debuted on his Twitter feed two days prior.

Ned Price, a former special assistant to Barack Obama and National Security Council spokesperson, said it was “especially frightening” that Trump’s speech, which involved “asinine name-calling” and “fundamentally dangerous policy positions,” was a scripted and vetted official address.

“It’s one thing to have a president who’s bombastic and prone to publicly go off the rails on issues as delicate and important as foreign policy. But it’s quite another to have an administration that is comfortable with that unhinged rhetoric,” Price told the Star.

North Korea’s ambassador walked out of the room before Trump began speaking.

Like Trump’s inaugural address, much of this one seemed to be aimed at Trump’s own political base more than a broader global audience.

Striking some of the themes he favours at campaign rallies, Trump criticized “uncontrolled migration,” multilateral trade agreements and “radical Islamic terrorism,” a phrase he has avoided, at the urging of some of his top security officials, in most of his recent speeches.

And he referred 21 times to “sovereignty,” or a variation of that word, saying countries have a right to govern themselves without international meddling. The concept is favoured by the nationalist and anti-war segments of his base, among many others — including authoritarian regimes who want the UN to stop criticizing them.

But Trump made clear that sovereignty was not an all-encompassing doctrine for him. He also demanded “fundamental reforms” from the “corrupt and destabilizing regime in Cuba,” a return to democracy in “destroyed” Venezuela, and a retreat from oppression and terror by the “corrupt dictatorship” of Iran.

Trump has a long history of deriding the UN for everything from its alleged incompetence to the “cheap” wall behind the General Assembly podium. He was gentler this time, saying he hoped the UN could become “much more accountable and effective.” And unlike some Republicans, he expressed optimism that the UN could play a helpful role in world affairs.

“Major portions of the world are in conflict. And some, in fact, are going to hell,” Trump said. “But the powerful people in this room, under the guidance and auspices of the United Nations, can solve many of these vicious and complex problems.”

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The speech was applauded by current and former Republican leaders, including former Trump critic Mitt Romney, and by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Twitter, “In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech.”

Other leaders sat stone-faced, offering only occasional and muted applause.

“It was the wrong speech at the wrong time to the wrong audience,” Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Margot Wallstrom told the BBC.

And some policy experts were aghast at Trump’s language on North Korea, warning that he was increasing the risk of war and making it more difficult to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions.

“What an idiot,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, wrote on Twitter.

Trump indirectly criticized Russia and China on sovereignty grounds, saying, “We must reject threats to sovereignty from Ukraine to the South China Sea.” But he did not single them out for criticism, and he thanked them for joining in a vote to impose new sanctions on North Korea.

He was far more direct in slamming Venezuela and Iran. Venezuela, he said, has failed not because it has poorly implemented socialism but because of socialism itself.

“We are prepared to take further action if the government of Venezuela persists on its path to impose authoritarian rule,” he said.

Trump described the Iran deal as “an embarrassment,” suggesting it might “provide cover” for Iran to eventually produce a nuclear weapon, and he added: “I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it, believe me.”

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