US envoy to UN on North Korea: We don’t want war, but our patience is not unlimited

The United States has urged the United Nations Security Council to take the “strongest possible measures” against North Korea in the aftermath of its latest, and strongest ever nuclear test.

Speaking at an urgent meeting of the Security Council, which was requested by the US, Britain, France, Japan and South Korea, the US’ envoy to the UN Nikki Haley said that “enough was enough”.

She noted that incremental sanctions had been imposed on the rogue state since 2006, however this seemed to have had no effect on the regime, with Haley insisting that through his actions North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was “begging for war”.

“War is never something the United States wants,” Haley told the council. “We don’t want it now. But our country’s patience is not unlimited.”

The US will circulate a new draft Security Council resolution, hoping for a vote next Monday. Both China and Russia have said that talks were needed in order to resolve the crisis.

The hermit kingdom’s behaviour, said Haley, represented a “slap in the face” to entire international community, while declaring that the “time for half measures was over”.

A number of diplomats have suggested that a ban on oil imports would have a crippling effect on North Korea. Haley said that the US was also considering stopping trade with countries that continued to do business with North Korea.

Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador to the UN, said direct talks with North Korea were only possible if Pyongyang stopped the escalation.

"Dialogue will always be our end goal but returning to dialogue without a serious sign of intent from Pyongyang would be a set-up to failure," he said. "North Korea must change course to allow a return to dialogue."