North Korea warns UN against sanctions

North Korea said on Friday it would take more “self-defence” measures if the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear test this week.

“If the UN Security Council provokes us, our additional self-defence measures will be inevitable,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on official media without elaborating.

Council members are trying to agree on additional sanctions against the communist state after it shocked the world by staging its second nuclear test on Monday.

“Any hostile acts by the UN Security Council will be tantamount to the demolition of the armistice,” the ministry said in reference to the truce that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.

“The world will soon witness how our army and people stand up against oppression and despotism by the [UN Security council] and uphold their dignity and independence.”

Pyongyang declared on Wednesday it is no longer bound by the armistice and threatened attacks on South Korea, after Seoul announced it had joined a United States-led initiative to halt the trade in weapons of mass destruction.

The North complained that its nuclear test was the 2&nbsp054th in the world’s history and that the Security Council’s five permanent members had carried out virtually all of them.—AFP