2nd LD: DPRK condemns UN resolution, threatens retaliation

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) 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 the DPRK, is the "worst and most explicit international criminal act that aims to isolate and stifle the defensive and just sovereign state," says a statement of a government spokesman.

The resolution is "the most outrageous provocation" against the DPRK and severely threatens the DPRK's sovereignty and the country's "just cause," it says.

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

The DPRK will not remain an onlooker to infringement on its sovereignty and right to existence, it warns.

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

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