As it denounced a UN Security Council statement condemning its latest ballistic missile launch, North Korea threatened to turn US troops into ashes in a moment.

As it denounced a UN Security Council statement condemning its latest ballistic missile launch, North Korea threatened to turn US troops into ashes in a moment.

In a letter sent to the UN on Monday, Pyongyang's foreign ministry called the UN condemnation of the missile launch "a hostile act" perpetrated by the United States and warning that it could precipitate America's "self-destruction."

North Korea "has substantial means capable of reducing aggression troops in the US mainland and the operational theater in the Pacific to ashes in a moment," read the letter.

On Friday, the 15-member UN Security Council announced its condemnation in a unanimous statement drafted by the US and supported by China, expressing “serious concern” about North Korea’s four ballistic missile launches in July and August.

The UNSC statement was "a reckless provocation harassing peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," according to the letter.

The North also accused the council of intentionally disregarding a complaint sent by the government in Pyongyang over joint US-South Korean military exercises currently underway in the region.

"This is an illegal action taken by the world body to side with the US in the acute standoff between the DPRK and the US without an iota of impartiality," said the statement.