North Korea has described the latest round of UN sanctions against it as an "act of war" and tantamount to a complete economic blockade against the country.
On Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously backed a US drafted resolution imposing new sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear programme, including measures which will severely reduce the country's oil and petrol imports.
The Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang said the latest sanctions were a violent breach of North Korean sovereignty and that countries supporting them "will be responsible for all the consequences".
The sanctions received the backing of Pyongyang's key ally China and also orders the repatriation of North Korean workers sent abroad to earn much needed revenue for Kim Jong-Un's regime.
The third raft of sanctions imposed on the North this year came about three weeks after Pyongyang test-fired its longest-range inter-continental ballistic missile, which it said was capable of striking all major US cities.
North Korea said its weapons programmes are designed for self-defence against "hostile" US policies towards the isolated but nuclear-armed nation.
