North Korea has warned the more sanctions the US and allies imposes on the rogue state, the faster it will move to complete its nuclear plans.
The warning was reported by the country's official KCNA news agency and cited a foreign ministry spokesman.
The latest sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council represent "the most vicious, unethical and inhumane act of hostility to physically exterminate the people of the DPRK, let alone its system and government," the spokesman said on Monday, using the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The UN Security Council unanimously passed a US-drafted resolution a week ago mandating tougher new sanctions against Pyongyang that included banning textile imports and capping crude and petrol supply.
But the US toned down its original proposals to secure support from China and Russia.
Moscow backs Beijing's proposal for a freeze on North Korea's nuclear and missile tests in exchange for a suspension of US-South Korea military drills, which China blames for fanning regional tensions.
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has rejected the proposal as "insulting" and said that if Pyongyang should pose a serious threat to the US or its allies, "North Korea will be destroyed".
North Korea's weapons drive is set to dominate US President Donald Trump's address to the UN General Assembly later Monday and his meetings with South Korean and Japanese leaders this week.
Tensions flared when Kim Jong-Un's regime tested what it termed a hydrogen bomb many times more powerful than its previous device.
The North also fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific last Friday, responding to the new UN sanctions with what appeared to be its longest-ever missile flight.
Trump,Xi agree on 'maximising pressure' on North Korea
US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping committed to "maximising pressure on North Korea", the White House said Monday, amid an escalating crisis over Pyongyang's ballistic and nuclear weapons programs.
In a phone call the two men discussed "North Korea's continued defiance of the international community and its efforts to destabilise Northeast Asia," the White House said.
"The two leaders committed to maximizing pressure on North Korea through vigorous enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions."
Trump is expected to make his first presidential visit to China in early November.
September has seen a significant ratcheting up of already sky-high tensions with Pyongyang.
Already North Korea has conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and staged an intermediate-range missile test over Japan.
The US president has not ruled out a military option, which could leave millions of people in the South Korean capital -- and 28,500 US soldiers stationed in the South -- vulnerable to potential retaliatory attack.
China's official news agency, Xinhua, said that during the phone conversation "Xi also expressed sympathy and solicitude to Trump and the American people for the hurricane attacks on the United States over the past few days."
"The two leaders also exchanged views on the current situation on the Korean Peninsula."
