Trump targets DPRK, Iran in his 1st UN speech

US President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US, Sept 19, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

UNITED NATIONS - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday strongly pressured the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to give up its nuclear weapons and criticized a landmark Iran nuclear deal in his first speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.

In his over-40-minute talk, Trump threatened that the United States "will have no choice than to totally destroy" the DPRK unless Pyongyang refrains from its nuclear tests and missile launches.

Trump's threat came minutes after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, also delivering his debut address to the UN General Assembly, said that the Korean Peninsula crisis should be solved through political process.

"We must not sleepwalk our way into war," Guterres warned.

Trump also took aim at the nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in July 2015, under which Iran agreed to limit its uranium-enrichment activities in return for the lifting of Western and international sanctions.

Trump called the Iran nuclear deal, reached during the Obama administration, "an embarrassment" for the United States, indicating that he may not recertify the deal at its mid-October deadline.

Trump blasted the deal as "one of the worst and one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into."

According to the Iran nuclear deal, or formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran will be removed if the country proved abides by the deal over the next few years.

"JCPOA is an important outcome of international security governance, as well as an example of resolving international hot-spot issues through diplomacy," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

"It plays an important role in upholding the international non-proliferation regime and maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East," said spokesperson Lu Kang in Beijing.

In his maiden show, Trump also criticized Islamic extremists.