SEOUL - North Korea bitterly denounced new sanctions on its economy as “vicious, unethical and inhumane” and warned the measures would only accelerate progress on its nuclear weapons programme, state media reported Monday.

The angry statement from Pyongyang’s foreign ministry came as the crisis surrounding the reclusive state was set to dominate the annual UN gathering of world leaders.

The UN Security Council last week imposed a new raft of sanctions on North Korea, slapping an export ban on textiles, freezing work permits to North Korean guest workers and placing a cap on oil supplies.

The international community is scrambling to contain an increasingly belligerent Pyongyang, which has conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test and fired long-range missiles over Japan that it says could reach the US mainland.

Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from US forces. It says it is determined to build a weapons system capable of delivering a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the American mainland.

The US flew four F-35B stealth fighter jets and two B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula on Monday in a blunt show of force.

Trump, Xi agree on

‘maximizing pressure’

US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping committed to “maximizing 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 destabilize 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 currently in New York for the United Nations General Assembly but Xi - who has a major Communist Party congress that will cement his leadership for the next five years - is not attending the event.

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 UN Security Council last week imposed a fresh set of sanctions, though Washington toned down its original proposals to secure support from China and Russia.

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.

The US flew four F-35B stealth fighter jets and two B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula on Monday in a blunt show of force.

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.”