N Korea warns of 'counter-measures' against sanctions

SEOUL: North Korea has warned the United States it will take "all necessary counter-measures" against Washington for ratcheting up the pressure on the communist state through financial sanctions, state media said.

"It is the height of folly for the US to think that it can solve any issue by means of sanctions and pressure," a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said on Saturday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"Now that the Bush administration is escalating its pressure upon the DPRK through the tightened financial sanctions in a bid to keep itself politically alive, the DPRK is left with no other option but to take all necessary counter-measures to protect its ideology, system, sovereignty and dignity."

The spokesman, however, did not elaborate on what counter-measures could be taken, according to the KCNA report monitored in Seoul.

The warning came as a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said North Korea - which claims to have nuclear weapons -- might carry out a nuclear test unless the United States stops its attempt to "stifle and destroy" the communist state.

"We can't say for sure that the DPRK (North Korea) will not conduct nuclear testing to bolster its self-defence capability," the Choson Sinbo said in an editorial.

South Korea has stepped up monitoring of North Korea's nuclear activities amid news reports that Pyongyang may be preparing for an underground nuclear bomb test.