North Korea slams UN resolution, vows nuclear buildup

Flaring up already heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea slammed tougher sanctions against its nuclear test and continued ramping up war rhetoric on Saturday. An unidentified spokesman for the North's foreign ministry denounced the U.N. Security Council's toughened sanctions to punish the North's third nuclear test, calling them "clear proof" that the U.N. is "abused" by the United States that aims to bring down the Pyongyang regime "by disarming and suffocating it economically." The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2094 on Friday (Eastern Standard Time), which is aimed at punishing the North for carrying out an underground nuclear test on Feb. 12. The blast came two months after it carried out a banned long-range rocket launch. "The DPRK vehemently denounces and totally rejects the resolution on sanctions against the DPRK, a product of the U.S. hostile policy toward it," said the spokesman in the statement published by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Bristled at the international move, the North on Friday threatened that it will sever its emergency hotline with Seoul and nullify non-aggression agreements between the two countries. Reiterating its long-standing argument that rocket launches and nuclear tests aim to "defend its sovereignty and vital rights," the North warned that the resolution will "only result in bolstering of its nuclear deterrent qualitatively and quantitatively." Vowing to take "stronger countermeasures in succession and a great war for national reunification," Pyongyang also said it will "reinforce (itself) as a nuclear weapons state and satellite launcher" in response to the U.N. resolution.