N Korea in nuclear strike threat to US

North Korea threatened the United States with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric just before the UN Security Council approved new sanctions against the reclusive country.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said North Korea’s threats would achieve nothing and would only further isolate the country.

China’s UN Ambassador Li Baodong said Beijing wanted to see “full implementation” of the new UN Security Council resolution that tightens financial restrictions on Pyongyang and cracks down on its attempts to ship and receive banned cargo.

North Korea has accused the United States of using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and has scrapped the armistice with Washington that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea threatens the US and its “puppet”, South Korea, almost daily.

“Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exercising our right to preemptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest,” its foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

North Korea conducted a third nuclear test on Feb 12, in defiance of UN resolutions, and declared it had achieved progress in securing a functioning atomic arsenal. It is widely believed the North does not have the capacity for a nuclear strike against the US mainland.

With tensions high on the Korean peninsula, the UN Security Council voted to expand its sanctions on North Korea. The new sanctions were agreed after three weeks of negotiations between the US and China, which has a history of resisting tough measures against its ally.

The resolution specifies some luxury items North Korea’s elite is not allowed to import, such as yachts, racing cars, luxury automobiles and certain types of jewellery. This is intended to close a loophole that had allowed countries to decide for themselves what constitutes a luxury good.

“These sanctions will bite and bite hard,” said Rice.

The export of luxury goods to North Korea has been prohibited since 2006, though diplomats and analysts said enforcement has been uneven.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the council’s move, saying in a statement that the resolution “sent an unequivocal message to (North Korea) that the international community will not tolerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons”.

The North’s unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said it would be entitled to take military action as of Mar 11 when US-South Korea military drills move into a full-scale phase. as it had declared the truce invalid.