North Korea defiant after latest round of sanctions

North Korea showed trademark defiance yesterday over new United Nations sanctions imposed after its sixth and largest nuclear test, vowing to redouble efforts to fight off what it said was the threat of a US invasion.

United States President Donald Trump said Tuesday’s sanctions, unanimously agreed on by the 15-member UN Security Council, were just a small step towards what is ultimately needed to rein in Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programmes.

The North’s Foreign Ministry said the resolutions were an infringement on its legitimate right to self-defence and aimed at “completely suffocating its state and people through full-scale economic blockade”.

“The DPRK will redouble the efforts to increase its strength to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and right to existence and to preserve peace and security of the region by establishing the practical equilibrium with the US,” it said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

The statement echoed comments on Tuesday by the North’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Han Tae Song, who said Pyongyang was “ready to use a form of ultimate means”. “The forthcoming measures . . . will make the US suffer the greatest pain it ever experienced history,” Han said.

South Korea, meanwhile, said yesterday that it had conducted its first live-fire drill for an advanced airlaunched cruise missile that would strengthen its pre-emptive strike capability against North Korea in the event of crisis.

South Korea's military said the Taurus missile fired from an F-15 fighter jet travelled through obstacles in its

The forthcoming measures . . . will make the US suffer the greatest pain it ever experienced in its history. Han Tae Song

at low altitudes before hitting a target off the country's western coast during drills on Tuesday.

The missile, manufactured by Germany's Taurus Systems, has a maximum range of 500km and is equipped with stealth characteristics that will allow it to avoid radar detection before hitting North Korean targets, according to Seoul's Defence Ministry.

South Korea has been accelerating efforts to ramp up its military capabilities in face of a torrent of nuclear weapons tests by North Korea.