World leaders seek tougher sanctions on North Korea

World leaders have been pushing for tougher sanctions on North Korea after its latest and the most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, while Pyongyang pledged to take "powerful counter measures" to respond to U.S. pressure or any new sanctions against it over its missile programme. 

North Korea on Sept. 7 accused Washington of wanting war in a statement by its delegation to an economic forum in the far eastern Russian port of Vladivostok, which came after the United States said it wanted the U.N. Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban the country's exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean labourers abroad, and subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Sept. 6. 

"We will respond to the barbaric plotting around sanctions and pressure by the United States with powerful counter measures of our own," the statement read.

The same statement also accused South Korea and Japan of using the Russian forum to play "dirty politics," saying the event was meant to be about discussing economic cooperation in the region and not about criticising its missile programme.

China said on Sept. 7 it agreed the U.N.Security Council should take further actions against North Korea, while continuing to push for more dialogue to resolve the crisis on the Korean peninsula and saying it hoped North Korea refrained from further challenging the international consensus.

"Given the new developments on the Korean peninsula, China agrees that the U.N. Security Council should make a further response and take necessary measures," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters, without elaborating.

"Any new actions taken by the international community...