Donald Trump warns North Korea; says 'they won't be around much longer'

NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump has warned North Korea, saying if the country's foreign minister was echoing thoughts of his supreme leader Kim Jong-Un in his threatening speech at the UN, "they won't be around much longer."

North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho yesterday attacked Trump at the UN General Assembly, deriding him as a "mentally deranged" leader whose threats had increased the chances of military confrontation.

"Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" Trump tweeted last night.

In his speech, Ri had said that the US and its allies should "think twice" before threatening his country.

He said that by repeatedly calling Kim "Rocket Man," Trump is making "our rocket's visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more."

The foreign minister also said Trump is a "gambler who grew old using threats, frauds and all other schemes to acquire a patch of land."

Ri jumped into the nickname game as well, saying Americans call Trump the "Commander in Grief," "Lyin' King," and "President Evil."

Trump and Kim have traded increasingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US.

Tensions have dramatically risen on the Korean peninsula after North Korea early this month conducted its biggest nuclear test, which its state-run KCNA news agency described as a hydrogen bomb.