BY ROGER M. BALANZA

They may not be nuclear but the verbal bombs were the strongest ever that  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte lobbed  at North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.

In his latest verbal assault, Duterte called the reclusive North Korean leader a “fool” and a “son of a bitch.”Earlier in May, Duterte described Kim Jong Un as a “madman” in his phone conversation with US President Donald Trump.

Speaking on Wednesday, August 2, before officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Manila, Duterte said “this Kim Jong Un (is) a fool…. He is playing with dangerous toys, that fool.”

Adding spikes to his verbal missile, Duterte called Un a “son of a bitch” with “a chubby face that looks kind,” who is stacking up on nuclear weapons.

“If he commits a mistake, the Far East will become an arid land. It must be stopped, this nuclear war,” Duterte said.

North Korea’s nuclear arms build-up has been condemned by world nations including the US.

Accordingly, North Korea has been testing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) that could reach the US, putting the Trump administration in a nervous mood.

The North Korean leader was a topic in  phone talks between Duterte and Trump in May.

• “He is not stable, Mr. President, as he keeps smiling when he explodes a rocket,” Duterte said when Trump asked  his opinion of the North Korean ruler.

 “Every generation has a madman. In our generation, it is Kim Jong Un. You are dealing with a very delicate problem,” Duterte told Trump.

Duterte’s verbal stab at Kim Jong Un comes a few days before a meeting in Manila of foreign diplomats at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum. Duterte currently chairs the ASEAN.

As an emerging Asian leader, Duterte is keenly watched on how he would play his cards in the international effort to neutralize North Korea’s aggressive nuclear weapons program.

North Korea’s advancing nuclear capabilities, along with maritime security and counterterrorism, will be high on the agenda of the forum, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who will attend the ASEAN meet.