North Korea condemns UN resolution, threatens retaliation

North Korea on Friday strongly condemned the new UN Security Council resolution and threatened to take resolute measures against it.

The new resolution, which further tightens sanctions against North Korea, is the "worst and most explicit international criminal act that aims to isolate and stifle the defensive and just sovereign state", Xinhua quoted an official statement as saying.

The resolution is "the most outrageous provocation" against Pyongyang and severely threatens North Korea's sovereignty and the country's "just cause", it said.

North Korea firmly rejects the resolution and will take "resolute counter-measures," which involve all methods including "strong and merciless physical counter-actions", it said.

North Korea will not remain an onlooker to infringement on its sovereignty and right to existence, it warned.

The resolution is "a criminal document fabricated by the UN Security Council" at the behest of the US, other major countries and their followers, the statement added.

It warned that in case an undesired incident should take place on the Korean peninsula, the US and other major countries that took part in supporting the resolution would "be held wholly countable for ensuing consequences".