North Korea says new United Nations sanctions are 'an act of war'

North Korea in a statement Sunday harshly condemned new United Nations sanctions leveled against the isolated regime Friday.

"We define this 'sanctions resolution' rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the 'resolution,'" Pyongyang said. "There is no more fatal blunder than the miscalculation that the U.S. and its followers could check by already worn-out 'sanctions' the victorious advance of our people who have brilliantly accomplished the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force."

The sanctions were supported by Russia and China, two nations typically friendly to North Korea, as well as the United States. Read The Week's Matthew Walther on sanctions' long record of failure to change Pyongyang's behavior.

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