A North Korean official has warned the communist nation could fire a nuclear-tipped missile unless the US acts to resolve its standoff with Pyongyang, a South Korean news agency has reported."We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes," the unnamed official said, according to a Yonhap report from Beijing.
"That depends on how the US will act."
The warning came as Japan said North Korea could face military sanctions as a response to the nation's claimed nuclear test, but said it will not build its own nuclear arsenal.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country had no plans to contravene its pacifist constitution and build up a nuclear arsenal in response to Pyongyang's reported atomic test.
"We have no intention of changing our policy that possessing nuclear weapons is not our option," Mr Abe told parliament today.
"There will be no change in our non-nuclear arms principles."
Japan's constitution bars the use of force to settle international disputes, and Japan has maintained a policy of not producing, possessing or using nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki suggested military sanctions would be among the options considered at the United Nations, but he refused to provide any details of what the sanctions would involve.
"We will discuss sanctions at the UN Security Council," he said. "We are considering all possibilities. What kind of resolution it will be will be based on the results of the discussion at the Security Council. It is difficult to predict at this point."
Japan's Finance Minister Koji Omi said Tokyo would consider imposing more financial sanctions on North Korea to protest its reported nuclear test yesterday.
"We cannot condone North Korea's nuclear explosion test. We will consider stepping up our financial sanctions against the country, in tandem with other countries," Mr Omi told reporters.
Following North Korea's test announcement, Iran today said it was "hostile" towards the development of nuclear weapons but said the big powers have to start disarmament.
"The Islamic Republic is hostile to the production and utilisation of nuclear weapons and to destruction," said government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham.
"The best solution to combat nuclear weapons is for the big powers to start by destroying them themselves," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
He pledged Tehran's help if the world's nuclear powers were serious in achieving this goal.
The five UN Security Council permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, are expected to begin discussing this week a resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran if it does not halt its own nuclear program.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy needs, vehemently rejecting allegations that it is seeking nuclear weapons.
"Iran's position is clear and Iran on principle believes in a world free of nuclear weapons," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted as saying by a state television anchor.