'Sound of a dog barking': Understanding this North Korean insult to Trump

North Korean propaganda posters commonly use phrases such as "American bastard" or "American imperialism"

Since the early 1990s, the North Koreans have been gaining increasing attention for their use of sharp language. In the latest such episode, Ri Yong-ho, the North Korean foreign minister, ridiculed US president Donald Trump, comparing his bombastic threats to the “sound of a dog barking”.

This may sound like a fairly standard put down, but in fact Ri’s language was carefully selected. In the Korean context, a comparison with a dog is deeply insulting, and this likely explains Kim Jong-un’s follow-up reference to Trump as a “frightened dog”, and other derisive references to his age. Such claims