North Korea: Trump's UN speech amounted to 'the sound of a dog barking'

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(CNN)North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Wednesday US President Donald Trump's threat to destroy the hermit kingdom sounded like "a dog barking." "If he was thinking he could scare us with the sound of a dog barking, that's really a dog dream," Ri, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, told reporters in front of his hotel in New York.

In Korean, a dog dream is one that is absurd and makes little sense. Though Trump's speeches typically employ colorful rhetoric, threatening another country with destruction was unprecedented for a US President and took diplomats aback. "The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,

" Trump said in the Tuesday speech. "North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life ... no nation on Earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with a nuclear weapon and missiles," said Trump.

Trump also said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- who he referred to as "rocket man" -- is "on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime." It's the second time Trump has referred to Kim by the new nickname, which is likely a play on the eponymous Elton John song and the numerous missile tests Kim has overseen. The first was in a tweet Sunday. When asked about the new nickname for North Korea's Supreme Leader, Ri said of Trump "I feel sorry for his aides." North Korean diplomats were not present during Trump's speech.