North Korea on Friday issued its first response to new sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council, saying it will respond with stern measures.
 
The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported the statement made by a government spokesperson which vowed a stern response.
 
The statement said that major powers including the United States and its followers have embarked on an explicit path of trampling upon the North's sovereign rights and right to survival.
 
The North also said that it will mobilize various means and methods including a strong and merciless physical response. 
 
It condemned the UN Security Council's sanctions resolution as an "extremely vicious provocation against a dignified, independent and sovereign nation." 
 
The statement is Pyongyang's first official response coming some 40 hours after the Security Council unanimously adopted a new resolution sanctioning the North on Wednesday.