President Donald Trump blasted the North Korean government during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
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 at Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader.
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 own 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 accused North Korea of torturing Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was imprisoned in the country for roughly a year and died within days of being returned to the US in June, as well as of assassinating Kim's half-brother earlier this year and kidnapping a teenage Japanese girl.
"If this is not twisted enough, now North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life," Trump said. "It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime, but would arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict."
That was a clear shot at China, North Korea's largest trading partner.
Trump said that if North Korea didn't back down from its nuclear provocations, the US would "have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."
"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 this 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 US's nuclear deal with the country an "embarrassment." The president later said that many parts of the world were engaged in major conflicts while "some, in fact, are going to hell."
Watch part of Trump's comments on North Korea:
"Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The U.S. is ready, willing & able but hopefully this won't be necessary"pic.twitter.com/F542559G54
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) September 19, 2017
This story originally stated that North Korea's UN representatives were sitting in the front row during Trump's speech, but Bloomberg subsequently reported that North Korea's delegation left the UN hall before the speech.