U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the United States does not want a war with North Korea, but warned that "the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed" if its "continued acts of aggression" lead to war.
Speaking late on November 29 before an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Haley said North Korea's latest test of a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile that it claimed could reach all of the U.S. mainland has increased the urgency of all nations cutting ties with Pyongyang.
She called on China, Pyongyang's biggest trading partner, to cut off all oil supplies to its neighbor.
"The dictator of North Korea made a decision yesterday that brings us closer to war, not farther from it," Haley said.
The United States and France are pushing for new sanctions on North Korea after it ended 10 weeks of relative quiet with what experts said was its most powerful weapon test yet on November 28.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about Pyongyang's "provocative actions," and he vowed that "additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!"
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said financial institutions doing business with the North could be targeted with further sanctions.
At the UN meeting, China and Russia called for restraint from both sides.
Russian UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the United States and South Korea should help stop the "spiral of tension" by refraining from holding military drills during December -- a move he said that "would inflame an already explosive situation."
Nebenzya said that Moscow does not support Pyongyang's ambition to "become a nuclear power," but he said the only way to prevent that is through "tireless diplomatic efforts."
