'We're fully capable of defending ourselves': U.S. scoffs at North Korea's threat of 'thermonuclear war' against America in revenge for sanctions

• White House dismisses communist regime's 'ballistic missile' threats
• Strong words from North Korea followed the U.N.'s approval of new sanctions on Pyongyang following recent nuclear test
• Secretive state threatens to end 1953 peace pact with South Korea

The Obama administration today dismissed a threat by North Korea and warned that U.S. is 'fully capable' of defending itself from a ballistic missile attack by the communist regime.
White House spokesman Jay Carney was responding to the North's vow to launch a nuclear strike against America.
North Korea state media warned of a 'thermonuclear war' as an unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for 'pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the headquarters of the aggressors.'
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Show of strength: A mass rally of citizens and soldiers was held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang today after the regime threatened a 'pre-emptive' nuclear strike against the U.S.

That threat came in retaliation for tough new U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang following its recent nuclear test.
Carney says the sanctions further isolate North Korea and show its leaders what will happen if they defy the international community.
He said the breadth and severity of the sanctions show the world takes seriously the threat of North Korea's nuclear program.
North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs but isn't thought to have the ability to produce a warhead that could be used on a missile capable of reaching the U.S.
In response to North Korea's third nuclear test on February 3, the U.N. Security Council voted to tighten financial restrictions on Pyongyang and crack down on its attempts to ship and receive banned cargo.
The U.S.-drafted resolution, which was approved unanimously by the 15-nation council, was the product of three weeks of negotiations between the U.S. and China after North Korea's nuclear test on February 12.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, said the resolution 'sent an unequivocal message to [North Korea] that the international community will not tolerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons.'

Threat: Kim Jong-Un claps at the launch of the Unha-3 rocket. North Korea vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S. as revenge for new sanctions

In response to the threat of a nuclear strike two days ago, the U.S. envoy for North Korea policy, Glyn Davies, said America will take necessary steps to defend itself and its allies.
Referring to threats from Pyongyang made in 'recent hours and days', he called on the North not to miscalculate and said the U.S. was working with South Korea to ensure it's ready for any threats that arise.
Democrat panel chairman Robert Menendez said the North's 'absurd' threat of a nuclear strike on the U.S. would be tantamount to suicide.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said: 'North Korea will achieve nothing by continued threats and provocations.
'These will only further isolate the country and its people and undermine international efforts to promote peace and stability in northeast Asia'.

The latest U.N. resolution specifies certain luxury items that North Korea's elite will not be allowed to import, such as yachts, racing cars, luxury automobiles and certain types of jewelry.
This is to close a loophole that previously allowed countries to decide for themselves what constitutes a luxury good.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approve a fourth round of sanctions on North Korea at the United Nations headquarters in New York

Response: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice (pictured) said North Korea would achieve nothing by threats

 

Ambassador Rice said: 'The strength, breadth and severity of these sanctions will raise the cost to North Korea of its illicit nuclear program and further constrain its ability to finance and source materials and technology for its ballistic missile, conventional and nuclear weapons program.
'When North Korea tries to move money to pay for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, countries must now block those transfers even if the money is being carried in suitcases full of bulk cash.'
China's Ambassador Li Baodong reiterated Beijing's calls for a resumption of the stalled six-party aid-for-disarmament talks between the two Koreas, United States, China, Russia and Japan.
'We want to see full implementation of the resolution,' China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong told reporters. 'The top priority now is to defuse the tension, bring down heat, focus on the diplomatic track.'
Council diplomats say the point of the new measures is to bring the North Korea sanctions regime more in line with the tough U.N. measures in place against Iran.
They say the U.N. sanctions regime against Iran over its nuclear program, which Western powers and their allies say is intended for making weapons but Tehran claims is peaceful, has been more effective than the restrictions on Pyongyang.

North Koreans rally in support of the threat by the Supreme Command vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War

A billboard depicting a North Korean bayonet throttling a US soldier is seen during a rally in the capital Pyongyang on Tuesday

Warning: Officials at a ceremony following a recent successful nuclear test in North Korea, which today sent a warning to the top U.S. commander in South Korea over its plans for joint drills 

Pyongyang was hit with U.N. sanctions for its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests, measures that were subsequently tightened and expanded after several rocket launches. In addition to the luxury goods ban, there is an arms embargo on North Korea, and it is forbidden from trading in nuclear and missile technology.
It imposes an obligation on the United Nations' 193 member states to block any financial services or monetary transfers that 'could contribute to the DPRK's nuclear or ballistic missile programs.'
It also adds a binding obligation on countries to 'not provide public financial support for trade with the DPRK' if it could in any way support North Korea's nuclear or missile work.
After Tuesday's announcement over the end of the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War, the North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun, said: 'With the armistice nullified, it would be no surprise if a global thermonuclear war breaks out.'

Although North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs and pre-emptive strikes, it is not thought to have mastered the ability to produce a warhead small enough to put on a missile capable of reaching the U.S. It is believed to have enough nuclear fuel, however, for a handful of crude nuclear devices.

Uneasy truce: South Korean Army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea

Drills: Soldiers participating in a routine drill in South Korea, which is due to press ahead with joint drills with the U.S. military

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