"The group of Obama's running around and talking about meaningless sanctions until today is highly laughable," state-run KCNA news agency cited a foreign ministry spokesman as saying in a statement, Reuters reported.
The United States may launch unilateral sanctions against North Korea, a US special envoy for the isolated state said earlier on Sunday, two days after it carried out its fifth and biggest nuclear test in defiance of UN sanctions.
Earlier today, a US special envoy for North Korea said that the United States may launch unilateral sanctions against North Korea, two days after it carried out its fifth and biggest nuclear test in defiance of UN sanctions.
"In addition to action in the Security Council, both the US and Japan, together with the Republic of Korea, will be looking at unilateral measures, as well as bilateral measures, as well as possible trilateral cooperation," said Sung Kim, the envoy, referring to South Korea by its official name.
Specific details of the US unilateral sanctions have yet to be decided, Kim said, speaking to reporters in Tokyo after meeting Japanese foreign ministry officials.
But both the US and Japan were looking at "a full range of possibilities, in terms of additional unilateral sanctions that can be implemented," he added.
North Korea on Friday set off its most powerful nuclear explosion to date, saying it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile, ratcheting up a threat that its rivals and the United Nations have been powerless to contain.
The UN Security Council denounced North Korea's decision to carry out the test and said it would immediately begin working on a resolution. The US, Britain and France pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions against the hermit nation.