Seoul: North Korea on January 12 threatened to "mercilessly punish" the United States if its withdrawal from a key anti-nuclear pact was met with sanctions and called on the Korean people to unite against their common enemy.

After sparking outrage by withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) on January 10 and then threatening to restart missile tests, the North showed no sign of trying to ease tensions over the crisis.

Agencies