Tokyo - UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that he was determined to achieve a nuclear-free North Korea amid tension about new UN sanctions on the isolated communist regime.
"I spare no effort in facilitating the achievement of verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," Ban told a news conference after holding talks with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in Tokyo.
Pyongyang has warned that "dark clouds of nuclear war" are gathering over the Korean peninsula after the United Nations strengthened sanctions against it in response to its nuclear test in May.
The North has responded defiantly to the UN move, by vowing to build more nuclear bombs.
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Aso echoed Ban's comments, saying: "North Korea's ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests are a serious threat to the international community.
We will never allow North Korea's nuclear weapons possession."
The new sanctions include calling on UN member states to inspect cargoes if they suspect these are carrying banned weapons shipments to or from the North.
Pyongyang said Wednesday it would hit back against any attempt to search its vessels, as a Pentagon official said a North Korean ship, the first to be tracked under the new sanctions, has changed course after being followed by the US Navy on suspicion of carrying weapons.
The US official declined to say where the Kang Nam 1, which left home on June 17, was now headed after it was reported to be originally bound for Myanmar.
On Wednesday North Korea warned of military action against its arch-enemy Japan should Tokyo stop its vessels for cargo inspections.
Rodong Sinmun, the ruling communist party's daily newspaper, said Tokyo was pushing for a new law to authorise tougher cargo inspections.
But in a commentary Rodong said: "Our ships are sacred and impregnable places where our sovereignty reigns.
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