TheCable

North Korea on Friday threatened to take “corresponding measures” if the UN security council adopts another sanctions resolution in response to its test-launch of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) on July 4.

The east-Asian country’s ministry said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency that the ICBM test was an exercise of its legitimate right to self-defense against nuclear threat from the United States.

The US has been trying to get China and Russia to back a new UN security council resolution imposing stiffer sanctions on North Korea following its latest missile test.

On June 3, the the council’s 15 member nations voted in a unanimous decision to broaden sanctions on North Korea.

During a security council meeting on July 7, Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN , threatened secondary sanctions if the council could not agree on new sanctions.

The new sanctions applied to a travel ban and asset freeze to 14 people and four North Korean entities.

Among the blacklisted officials is the head of North Korea’s overseas spying operations, senior members of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, and heads of trading firms that have funded North Korea’s military program.

Blacklisted entities include two trading firms, the Strategic Rocket Force of the Korean People’s Army, and the Koryo Bank, which is tied to an organisation that manages the private finances of North Korean officials, including Kim Jong Un, the nation’s president.