North Korea threatens S. Korea and U.S.

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PYONGYANG, North Korea, March 9 (UPI) -- A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday new U.N. sanctions show the United Nations is a tool of the United States.

China called for calm Friday after North Korea, reacting to U.N. Security Council approval Thursday of the new sanctions, announced it had scrapped its peace pacts with South Korea and threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, whose name was not reported, was quoted by North Korea's government-run Korean Central News Agency as saying the Security Council resolution shows the United Nations is a tool of a U.S. plan "to destroy the Democratic People's Republic of Korea "by disarming and suffocating it economically," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

"The DPRK vehemently denounces and totally rejects the resolution on sanctions against the DPRK, a product of the U.S. hostile policy toward it," the spokesman said.

The new sanctions resolution aims to punish North Korea for its latest underground nuclear test.

A commentary in a North Korean government newspaper threatened the United States with "real war" if it goes ahead with joint military exercises with South Korea that began last week and include a period of computer simulated drills scheduled for March 11-21.

The Pyongyang government threatened to cut the emergency hotline with the South and cancel two non-aggression agreements.