Once again the epic battle of words between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un rages after the North Korean leader revealed he has a “nuclear button” on his desk ready for use.
The sentiment of much of the reaction to the US President’s response yesterday – that he had a “much bigger one” – was eloquently summed up by author Chuck Wendig.
Quite.
Setting aside the fact we’re talking about two world leaders threatening each other with nuclear annihilation, there were a few humorous gems amongst the fear and desperation.
1) This Vision Of A Trump Supporter’s Dystopian Future
2) This Helpful Explainer
3) Stephen Colbert’s Need For Mind Bleach
4) Cher Being.. Well, Cher
5) KFC’s Shameless (Yet Admittedly Quite Funny) Bandwagoning
6) This Trans-Continental Neighbourly Concern
7) Breaking It Down For The Kids
8) But What Would Lincoln Think?
9) The Reality And The Potential Reality Of The Reality
10) A Timely Reminder This Plugin Exists
11) The Best Idea Of Them All
In all seriousness though, there are obviously some serious issues at play here.
Despite Kim Jong-Un’s nuclear button threat he also offered an olive branch to South Korea, saying he was “open to dialogue” with Seoul.
After a year dominated by fiery rhetoric and escalating tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Kim used his televised New Year’s Day speech to declare North Korea “a peace-loving and responsible nuclear power” and call for lower military tensions on the Korean peninsula and improved ties with the South.
“When it comes to North-South relations, we should lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment,” Kim said. “Both the North and the South should make efforts.”
Two days later on Wednesday it was announced North Korea had reopened a long-closed border hotline with South Korea.
US officials responded sceptically, saying Washington would not take any talks between North and South Korea seriously if they did not contribute to denuclearising North Korea.
A State Department spokeswoman said North Korea “might be trying to drive a wedge of some sort”.