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NKorea: Sanctions a `Declaration of War`
of war.
North Korea`s Foreign Ministry said that the country wants "peace but is not afraid of war".
The statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency said the country will "deal merciless blows if the nation`s sovereignty is violated".
It "vehemently" denounced the resolution as "a product of the US hostile policy" toward Pyongyang, saying it "cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of a war against the North".
The UN sanctions, passed Saturday, ban the sale of major arms to the North and orders the inspection of cargo to and from the country.
The resolution also calls for the freezing of assets of business supplying the North`s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.
The North "will closely follow the future US attitude and take corresponding measures", the statement said, without specifying what those measures would be.
The statement came as the US top negotiator on North Korea Christopher Hill arrived in South Korea to discuss cooperation measures on how the resolution will be implemented.
Hill arrived ahead of this week`s visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing.
The USS Kitty Hawk pulled out of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, for routine operations, Commander Ike Skelton, a spokesman for the US 7th Fleet said.
He refused to say where the warship was heading, but denied it was related to North Korea.
More than 80-thousand US troops in the region have been keeping a low profile since the announcement of nuclear testing detonated in North Korea.
The US has roughly 29-thousand military personnel in South Korea and 50-thousand in Japan.
Hill is expected to meet his counterpart Chun Young-woo and also hold a three-way meeting with Chun and Russia`s top nuclear envoy Alexander Alexeyev.
South Korea and Japan warily watched for signs that the regime may carry out a second nuclear test.
US television networks said spy satellites had detected suspicious activity near North Korea`s nuclear test site that may signal preparations for another detonation, but Hill said he did not have anything to add to the reports.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov met with his South Korean counterpart, warning that the crisis will become more difficult to resolve if North Korea conducts a second nuclear test.
"I believe North Korea won`t conduct a second test and it shouldn`t," he said after talks with Prime Minister Han Myung-sook.
Han said "sanctions against North Korea should be done in a way that draws North Korea to the dialogue table".
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Pyongyang should help resolve the situation "through dialogue and consultation instead of taking any actions that may further escalate or worsen the situation".
US nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, speaks at Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea.