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N Korea 'to boost nuclear programme' after UN sanctions North Korea in nuclear warning after UN rocket resolution
(about 4 hours later)
North Korea says it will boost its military power and "nuclear deterrence" programme after the UN imposed new sanctions over a rocket launch. North Korea has reacted angrily to a UN resolution condemning its recent rocket launch, pledging to strengthen military and nuclear capabilities.
North Korea also ruled out any further nuclear talks. The Security Council unanimously passed the resolution, which also expanded existing sanctions, on Tuesday.
The country would "take physical actions" to strengthen its military force, the state news agency KCNA said. North Korea, in a statement early on Wednesday, pledged to bolster its "nuclear deterrent" and ruled out denuclearisation talks.
The UN Security Council approved new sanctions over the December test launch of what it said was a long-range missile banned by UN resolutions. The resolution followed Pyongyang's successful December launch.
The three-stage rocket put a satellite into space in what was Pyongyang's first successful test of such technology. North Korea said the three-stage rocket put a communications satellite into space.
The Security Council banned North Korea from missile tests after nuclear tests conducted in 2006 and 2009. But its neighbours and the US said the move constituted a test of long-range missile technology banned under UN resolutions passed after Pyongyang's nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
The UN resolution adds new individuals and North Korea's space agency to lists of existing sanctions, diplomats said. 'Extremely unfair'
'Talks rendered null' The Security Council resolution was proposed by the US and backed by China, North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner.
Over the past decade, North Korea has been in talks with the US, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, promising to end its nuclear programme in return for energy and economic aid. It represented a compromise between the two nations, with the US pushing for new sanctions and China for a statement, rather than a resolution. Chinese support was a blow for Pyongyang, observers say.
But on Wednesday, a foreign ministry statement carried by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency read: "Due to the US's worsening policy of hostility toward North Korea, the six-party talks were rendered null and the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula was put to an end. Under the resolution - which pledged "significant action" if North Korea carried out a third nuclear test - North Korea's space agency, a bank and a number of trading companies and individuals were added to existing sanctions lists.
"We will take measures to boost and strengthen our defensive military power, including nuclear deterrence," the ministry added. "This resolution demonstrates to North Korea that there are unanimous and significant consequences for its flagrant violation" of previous resolutions, said US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice.
The statement came only hours after the UN Security Council unanimously approved the new sanctions. The resolution was the result of a compromise deal between the US and China, North Korea's closest ally. Both South Korea and Japan welcomed the resolution, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling it a "resolute action".
The US had called for new sanctions to punish Pyongyang, the BBC's Barbara Plett reports from the UN in New York. Chinese envoy to the UN Li Baodong, meanwhile, said Beijing believed "that action taken by the council should be prudent, measured, proportionate and conducive to stability".
China had initially simply wanted a statement expanding the blacklist, but eventually agreed this could be done in the form of a resolution, which carries more legal weight, our correspondent adds. North Korea responded swiftly, with a statement from its foreign minister carried by state news agency KCNA condemning the "extremely unfair" resolution as a violation of sovereign rights.
Diplomats said China's support for the resolution was a blow to North Korea. "We will take physical actions aimed at expanding and strengthening our self-defensive military forces, including nuclear deterrence," it said.
China, which is North Korea's biggest trading partner, had consistently called for a cautious response. It also stated that there would be "no dialogue to discuss denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", in an apparent reference to long-stalled six-nation talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
Before the vote, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China had been participating "constructively" in discussions at the UN. In recent weeks reports from both the US and South Korea have described activity at North Korea's nuclear test sites, sparking concerns North Korea could be preparing for a third test.
"We feel regret that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [North Korea] went ahead with the launch amid widespread concerns by the international community," he said, according to state-run China Daily. Pyongyang has conducted two nuclear tests, the first in 2006 and the second in 2009.
"At the same time we believe that any response by the United Nations Security Council should be prudent, moderate, and conducive to peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, and should prevent the situation from escalating further." The US and North Korea's neighbours fear Pyongyang's ultimate goal is to put a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile that could target the west coast of the US, but it is not believed to have mastered the technology yet.
Monday's resolution said the Security Council expressed its "determination to take significant action in the event of a further DPRK [North Korean] launch or nuclear test".
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said North Korea would pay "an increasingly steep price" if it chose confrontation with the international community.