N.Korea Denounces 'Erratic, Old' Trump

North Korea and the U.S. resumed trading barbs on Monday as a year-end deadline on negotiations for denuclearization set by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un approaches.

The North in a statement issued by Kim Yong-chol, who is chairman of the North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, denounced Trump as a "heedless and erratic old man" and for good measure threw in a reference to one of its most famous insults by adding, "The time when we cannot but call him a 'dotard' again may come."

"Trump has too many things that he does not know" about North Korea, Kim Yong-chol said. "We have nothing more to lose."

He was responding to a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump a day earlier that read, "Kim Jong-un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way... North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, has tremendous economic potential, but it must denuclearize as promised."

But Trump continued to tout his "special relationship" with Kim Jong-un, while Kim Yong-chol stressed that the North Korean leader himself has not made any "provocative comments" at the U.S. president, leaving room open for negotiations.

North Korean Workers Party Vice Chairman Ri Su-yong chimed in later on Monday saying, "Trump might be in great jitters but he had better accept the status quo that as he sowed, so he should reap, and think twice if he does not want to see bigger catastrophic consequences."