Seoul — North Korea condemned its US terror listing as a "serious provocation" on Wednesday, warning that sanctions would never force it to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. The response came shortly after China, the North’s sole ally, also rejected as "wrong" new US sanctions that targeted Chinese companies doing business with the pariah state. US President Donald Trump Monday declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a spot on a US blacklist Pyongyang had shed nearly a decade ago. On Tuesday, the US unveiled its fresh sanctions, which also targeted North Korean shipping, raising the pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear programme. Trump said that the terror designation and new sanctions would be part of a series of moves over the next two weeks to reinforce his "maximum pressure campaign" against Kim Jong-un’s regime. But the North remained defiant on Wednesday, vowing to continue building up its nuclear force in the face of repeated US sanctions and threats. ...

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