North Korean minister echoes Pedro Caixinha's '˜dog and caravan' phrase

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho at Pyongyang Airport. Picture: AP

Ri Yong-ho was responding to Trump’s maiden United Nations speech, in which the US vowed to ‘totally destroy North Korea’ if provoked.

Minister Ri told reporters: “Back home, we have a saying: The dog barks, but the caravan continues.

“If [Trump] thought he could scare us with the noise of a dog barking, well, he should be daydreaming.”

Pedro Caixinha used the phrase during a press conference. Picture: SNS Group

Rangers manager Caixinha used the phrase in a recent press conference, telling reporters: “What I need to tell you, and it’s a Portuguese saying, ‘the dogs bark and the caravan keeps going’. That means that we are focused in our work. We are all together in the same direction.”

Trump also referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “Rocket man.”

South Korean TV footage also showed Ri saying he feels ‘sorry for [Trump’s] aides’ when he was asked about the “Rocket man” comments.

Ri was due to give a speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Trump: Referred to Kim Jong-un as 'Rocket man'. Picture: AP

Trump has unleashed many strong statements on North Korea including his August warning that the North will be met with ‘fire and fury.’

The North has responded by a slew of weapons tests and warlike and often-mocking rhetoric against Trump.

A top North Korean general called Trump’s threats ‘a load of nonsense’ let out by ‘a guy bereft of reason.’

The rhetorical battle came as outside experts say North Korea is getting closer to achieve its long-stated goal of building nuclear-armed missiles capable hitting anywhere in the US mainland.

Earlier this month, North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date and it was subsequently slapped with fresh, tough UN sanctions.

North Korea later fired a ballistic missile over Japan and the US military flew powerful bombers and stealth fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula and near Japan in a show of force against the North.