North Korea vowed to take
"resolute countermeasures" against the United Nations Security
Council sanctions resolution that was adopted unanimously on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Fatherland said a North Korean response is necessary as
"the United States and other powers are explicitly taking the path toward
trampling our sovereignty and survival."
"Our resolute countermeasures are soon to follow,"
North Korea said in statement.
The televised announcement comes hours after North Korean state
media reported Kim Jong Un had
ordered his military to be ready to use nuclear weapons at a moment's notice.
According to Pyongyang's state-controlled newspaper Rodong
Sinmun, Kim said, "For the sake of national defense, nuclear warheads
should be prepared to launch at any time."
A North Korean Foreign Ministry statement also reaffirmed the
regime's policy of "Byungjin," pursuing the parallel development of
the economy and Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and that the world will
soon witness more "actions," Yonhap reported.
In his earlier statement, Kim had blamed the United States for
"throwing its weight around on other countries, pressuring them into war
and disasters."
On television, North Korea said in statement blame also goes to
South Korea, and countermeasures to Seoul's passage of a North Korea Human
Rights Act and an anti-terrorism bill would be taken.
The statements were the first North Korean responses to the
passage of powerful and comprehensive sanctions at the Security Council that
aim to choke off Pyongyang's financial lifelines to the outside world.
North Korea has also stepped up airing footage of firing
weapons, and media has stated Kim attended the test firing of artillery this
week.