North Korea Threatens 'Greatest Pain' Against U.S. In Push For UN Sanctions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) attends an art performance dedicated to nuclear scientists and technicians who worked on a hydrogen bomb that the regime claimed to have successfully tested in Pyongyang on September 10.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) attends an art performance dedicated to nuclear scientists and technicians who worked on a hydrogen bomb that the regime claimed to have successfully tested in Pyongyang on September 10.

North Korea says the United States will suffer its "greatest pain" ever if Washington is successful in pushing the United Nations Security Council for stronger sanctions against Pyongyang.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry on September 11 said the country was "ready and willing to use any form of ultimate means" against the United States.

It said the measures would cause the United States "the greatest pain and suffering it had ever gone through in its entire history."

The UN approved a request by the United States for a September 11 vote on new sanctions against North Korea for its continued defiance of UN resolutions with its banned nuclear and ballistic-missile programs.

The United States earlier circulated a draft proposal calling for a total ban on supplying a range of oil products to North Korea and on its textile export industry. It also called for freezing the assets of the reclusive country's government and its leader, Kim Jong Un, as well as banning him and other officials from traveling.

Late on September 10, U.S. officials circulated a new proposal, described as slightly less tough than the original and including a "progressive" oil embargo the North, although details were not immediately available.

It was not clear whether Russia or China, North Korea's main ally, would support the tough new moves against Pyongyang. Both countries have Security Council veto powers.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa