South vows annihilation

South Korea has a plan to annihilate the North Korean capital if it shows any signs of mounting a nuclear attack, according to reports from Seoul.

A military source yesterday told the Yonhap news agency every part of Pyongyang "will be completely destroyed by ballistic missiles and high-explosives shells".

The South Korean military official told Yonhap that Pyongyang districts thought to be hiding the North's leadership would be particularly targeted in any attack. The city, the source said, "will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map".

The BBC's Korea correspondent Steve Evans says the South is using the same bloodcurdling rhetoric that the North frequently uses about the South Korean government in Seoul.

Meanwhile, North Korea yesterday said a push for further sanctions following its fifth and biggest nuclear test was "laughable", and vowed to continue to strengthen its nuclear power, reports Reuters.

"The group of Obama's running around and talking about meaningless sanctions until today is highly laughable, when their 'strategic patience' policy is completely worn out and they are close to packing up to move out," state-run KCNA news agency cited a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman as saying in a statement later yesterday.

"As we've made clear, measures to strengthen the national nuclear power in quality and quantity will continue to protect our dignity and right to live from augmented threats of nuclear war from the United States," KCNA added.

The North has yet to demonstrate that it had deployed nuclear-capable missiles, despite claims to have mastered the technology to miniaturise a nuclear warhead to mount it on ballistic missiles.

The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's decision to carry out the test and said it would begin work immediately on a resolution. The United States, Britain and France pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions.

South Korea said on Saturday that the latest test showed North Korea's nuclear capability was expanding fast and that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was unwilling to alter course.

Another KCNA report yesterday said North Koreans were "delighted" by the nuclear test.