Trump says 'madman' Kim Jong Un' will be tested like never before' in early morning tweet

President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "obviously a madman" and said he "will be tested like never before" in an tweet early Friday morning, following a week of escalating rhetoric between the US and the reclusive regime.

"Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!" Trump wrote shortly before 5:30 a.m. ET.

Trump's statement came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launched a salvo of threats aimed at Trump on Thursday where he said in a statement released by KCNA, North Korea's state-sanctioned news organization that Trump's rhetoric "unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors."

Kim's statement, in turn, was in response to Trump's address at the UN General Assembly where he called Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man," threatened to "totally destroy" the country if necessary, and admonished his regime for its continued provocations.

"The speech made by the US president ... on the UN arena in the prevailing serious circumstance, in which the situation on the Korean peninsula has been rendered tense as never before and is inching closer to a touch-and-go state, is arousing worldwide concern," Kim Jong Un's statement read.

"But, far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors," the statement continued. "A frightened dog barks louder."

Shortly after making the statement, North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong Ho said that his country may consider testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

"It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific," Ri said. "We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un."

North Korea's statement comes amid a meeting between Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, where Trump moved to impose new sanctions against the hostile regime; and two days after Trump made his first appearance before the UN General Assembly.

During his speech before the UN, Trump said Kim Jong Un was "on a suicide mission" and asserted that if North Korea continued its provocations, the US would "have no choice but to totally destroy" the country.

"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 at the UN on Tuesday. "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."

North Korea continued to flex its military power with another missile test last week. The missile managed to fly over Hokkaido, Japan, causing panic and forcing the country to issue public alerts for its citizens. The test also came less than two weeks after North Korea tested what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb, which if true, would be a massive boost for its weapons program.

Following the missile test, the UN Security Council delivered sanctions against the country, imposing a ban on North Korea's textile exports and caps crude-oil exports to North Korea. The sanctions; however, appeared to have little effect for the regime's leader.

"Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation," Kim Jong Un's statement continued. "I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire."