North Korea's Strongarm...

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea warned South Korea and the United States on Wednesday that Seoul's participation in a U.S.-led program to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction is equal to a declaration of war.

-MrSoLoDolo

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that North Korea will face consequences because of "provocative and belligerent" actions that include threatened military attacks against U.S. and South Korean warships.

Clinton also underscored Wednesday the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea and Japan in the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear and missile tests this week. She said that talks at the United Nations "are going on to add to the consequences that North Korea will face."

Clinton's stern statement came after North Korea threatened military attacks against U.S. and South Korean warships and called Seoul's decision to join an international program to intercept ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation tantamount to a declaration of war.

"North Korea has made a choice," Clinton said, to violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, ignore international warnings and abrogate commitments made during six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

"There are consequences to such actions," Clinton said. She did not provide specifics.

Clinton said she was pleased at a unified international condemnation of North Korea that included Russia and China, North Korea's only major ally and the host of the currently stalled disarmament talks.

The success of any new sanctions would depend on how aggressively China, one of North Korea's only allies, implements them.

Threats and sabre-rattling Russia's foreign minister said world powers must be firm with North Korea but also take care to avoid inflaming tensions further.

The world "must not rush to punish North Korea just for punishment's sake," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Russia wants a U.N. Security Council resolution that will help restart stalled six-nation talks.

North Korea on Monday conducted an underground nuclear test very close to the Russian border. Russia's military said its yield was comparable to the bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though other estimates have pointed to a smaller blast.

"The Security Council must speak out firmly, and must work out measures that in practice would help prevent the further dissolution of the nuclear nonproliferation regime," Lavrov told reporters. "We must also find in this resolution a way to create conditions for the renewal of the six-nation talks."

At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs played down North Korea's angry rhetoric and saber-rattling. He said threats against South Korea will not give North Korea the attention it wants and will only add to its isolation. "My sense is that they're trying to get renewed attention," Gibbs said.

'Respond sternly' North Korea's latest belligerence comes as the U.N. Security Council debates how to punish the regime for testing a nuclear bomb Monday in what President Barack Obama called a "blatant violation" of international law.

South Korea, divided from the North by a heavily fortified border, had responded to the nuclear test by joining the Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S.-led network of nations seeking to stop ships from transporting the materials used in nuclear bombs.

Seoul previously resisted joining the PSI in favor of seeking reconciliation with Pyongyang, but pushed those efforts aside Monday after the nuclear test in the northeast.

North Korea warned Wednesday that any attempt to stop, board or inspect its ships would constitute a "grave violation."