"You know that they are playing with somebody who relishes letting go of missiles and everything. I would not want to go into [Kim Jong-un's] mind because I really do not know what's inside but he's putting Mother Earth, the planet to an edge."
According to Duterte, the United States, Japan, South Korea and China are sparring with a man who is excited about the prospect of firing nuclear missiles.
"There seems to be two countries playing with their toys and those toys are not really to entertain," he told a news conference after the ASEAN summit in Manila, referring to Washington and Pyongyang.
According to him, one misstep in the global game will lead to a local apocalypse, in which Asia will suffer the most. Duterte, who is the current president of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has a telephone conversation with Trump scheduled on late Saturday.
"Who am I to say that you should stop? But I would say 'Mr. President, please see to it that there is no war because my region will suffer immensely,'" Duterte said.
"I will just communicate to [Donald Trump]: 'just let him play… do not play into his hands,'" he told reporters.
According to Duterte, Kim is basically trying to provoke the US into starting a nuclear war.
"The guy [Kim Jong-Un] simply wants to end the world, that is why he is very happy," Duterte said before the reporters.
"He is always smiling. But he really wants to finish everything and he wants to drag us all down."
