Trump’s views on Kim: From ‘rocket man’ to ‘madman’ to ‘very talented man’

So much changes in international relations in a short time. In September 2017, US President Donald Trump had referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "Rocket man" in a Twitter post and it was understandably in reference to the latter's insatiable hunger for more nuclear power. Trump also ripped North Korea apart in an aggressive speech that he delivered at the UN General Assembly the same month.

Kim responded a few days thereafter questioning Trump's mental health and even called him a "mentally deranged dotard" although the term 'dotard' left North Korea's official press under a lot of hardship to find the exact translation of the term.

Trump was unfazed, however. He called Kim "little rocket man" again at a rally in Alabama and even questioned the justification of Kim calling him "old" as an insult.

"Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me 'old' when I would NEVER call him 'short and fat?' Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!" the American president had once tweeted.

Trump had also questioned Kim's mental health calling him as a "madman" who never stopped short of killing and starving his own people.

By November, the verbal confrontation multiplied as Kim proceeded further on the path to procure a fresh kind of intercontinental ballistic missile that would put the US within Pyongyang's striking range. Trump hit back, saying he would unleash "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the US.

They even threatened each other earlier this year with the "nuclear button" that both claimed to have closer to their fingers.

Things, however, started changing from March when Trump readily accepted an offer for direct talks from Kim via a South Korean official. And finally when Trump met Kim at the Capello Hotel in Singapore and had a number of rounds of meeting with him, he felt the latter is a "very talented man" who "loves his country very much".