UN Security Council sanctions more North Korean entities

However, the Security Council did vote unanimously to add 15 individuals and four entities linked to the North's nuclear and missile programs to a United Nations sanctions blacklist.

North Korea is accelerating its push to acquire a nuclear-armed missile capable of threatening the United States and other nations, and the US regards this as a "clear and present danger", Mattis said in his speech at the forum.

"North Korea's strategic rocket force, the Koryo Bank and two trading firms were also added to the list".

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves from a balcony.

"At the same time, there is a critical window of opportunity for the nuclear issue of the peninsula to come back to the right path of seeking a settlement through dialogue and negotiations". Russian Federation said the suggestion merits "serious consideration".

The new penalties slapped on the reclusive communist nation targeted 14 individuals and four entities related to its missile and nuclear programs - condemning the North's activities "in the strongest possible terms".

But Mattis said that there is much more in common between the United States and China than the threat North Korea poses, and that he does not consider it a "binary" issue in which the United States can get help from China on North Korea only if Washington "walks away from its values" in making sure worldwide waters remain open to all.

Since its launch in 2002, the meeting has been held in Singapore. The resolution was unanimously passed by the 15 members of the council. The United States has a small number of rotational troops in the country.

He said Pyongyang's missile tests were a response to those military drills, which it views as a "gun pointed at North Korea".

Pyongyang conducted the most recent ballistic missile test on May 29, its ninth of the year so far, although it is banned under previous United Nations resolutions from testing nuclear weapons or missile technology and is already subject to multiple worldwide sanctions.

This was Pentagon " s first ICBM interceptor system test in the last three years. Those measures aimed to cut North Korea's annual export revenue by a quarter.

Those tests include a missile capable of reaching "the USA mainland and Pacific operation region" - according to North Korea's state news agency, at least.

China, which sent only a low-key delegation to the forum, said its ties with the United States were vital for the region.

"North Korea's attitude is feeding tensions in a region where we have major economic interest, and we do not want to see an arms race here", Goulard said.

"Instead of trying to work through the bilateral backlog in our work, Washington is doing exactly the opposite and undertaking unfriendly steps, which make it more hard to normalize our dialogue and make it more hard to cooperate in global affairs", he told the Security Council.

Slamming the United States" successful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) interceptor system defense test, North Korea on Saturday said that the country is showing signs of unleashing a nuclear war while calling it a "serious military provocation' on the part of the US.