'Rocket man is on a suicide mission': Trump threatens to 'totally destroy North Korea' in major UN speech

President Donald Trump blasted the North Korean regime during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, with North Korea's UN representative sitting right in the front row.

In denouncing the "scourge of our planet," which he said was a "small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the United Nations is based," Trump took aim first at Kim Jong Un's North Korean dictatorship.

In recent weeks, North Korea has ramped up its missile tests, sending shockwaves through world governments.

"No one has shown more contempt for other nations and for the well-being of their people than the depraved regime in North Korea," Trump said. "It is responsible for the starvation deaths of millions of North Koreans and for the imprisonment, torture, killing, and oppression of countless more."

Trump mentioned North Korea's imprisonment and torture of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was held captive in North Korea for roughly a year and then died within days of being returned to the US. He also mentioned the assassination of Kim's half brother from earlier this year, pointing to North Korea as the responsible party, and the kidnapping of a teenage Japanese girl by the rogue nation's regime.

"If this is not twisted enough, now North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life," he said "It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime, but arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict."

Trump said that if North Korea doesn't back down from its nuclear provocations, the US will "have no choice than to totally destroy North Korea."

That last line of his speech was a clear shot at China, which is North Korea's largest trading partner.

"No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons and missiles," Trump said.

"Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime," he continued, using his nickname for Kim. "The United States is ready, willing, and able, but hopefully that will not be necessary. That's what the United Nations is all about. That's what the United Nations is for. Let's see how they do."

Trump went on to condemn Iran, calling the Iran nuclear deal an "embarrassment" for the US. The president later said that many parts of the world are engaged in major conflicts while "some, in fact, are going to hell."

Watch part of Trump's comments on North Korea: