North Korean leader Kim Jong Un puts nuclear weapons on stand by

Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea's nuclear arsenal to be ready for pre-emptive use "anytime", in an expected ramping up of rhetoric following the UN Security Council's adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.

Kim also said his country should turn its military posture to a "pre-emptive basis" because enemies are threatening the state's survival, its KCNA news agency said. Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of crude atomic bombs, but there is considerable outside debate about whether it is technologically able to shrink a warhead and mount it on a missile.

"At an extreme time when the Americans... are urging war and disaster on other countries and people, the only way to defend our sovereignty and right to live is to bolster our nuclear capability", Kim said. It said that Kim stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment".

BRUSSELS - The European Union has boosted sanctions against North Korea in line with a U.N. Security Council Resolution imposing new measures over Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

South Korea's president said it's her goal to stop the tyranny of the North Korean regime - the same day North Korea fired six projectiles from the western coast of the peninsula.

South Korean military bosses are now assessing the full nature of the missile launch towards Japan.

"It means that they're not drawing the proper conclusions yet", said Churkin.

"In the wake of sanctions, it is not surprising that we have harsh language".

The White House said on Friday it was too early to evaluate the impact of worldwide sanctions imposed on North Korea this week but Washington had seen in the past that increasing isolation often prompts some countries to change their approach.

The US State Department said it was aware of the launches and is monitoring the situation, while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Beijing hoped that all parties would refrain from actions that could escalate tensions in the region.

It is not clear if the missiles were artillery fire, or if they were short-range missiles.

The North says it was its sovereign right to launch rockets as part of a space programme to put satellites into orbit. It wants to establish a center in South Korea's Unification Ministry which would archive and publish information about human rights in North Korea. Larry is our main news editor.

Based in the UK, Larry is passionate about all things news and technology related.