Korea Puffs up Chest

(CNN) -- North Korea threatened to nullify the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953, citing U.S.-led international moves to impose new sanctions against it over its recent nuclear test, the North's official news agency KCNA reported.

North and South Korea have technically been at war for decades. The 1950-53 civil war ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

This is not the first time Pyongyang's rhetoric has written off the armistice. In the aftermath of a previous nuclear test in 2009, it said its military would no longer be bound by the agreement because South Korea was joining a U.S.-led anti-proliferation plan.

The North's latest threat comes amid new international efforts to clamp down on its weapons program.

A draft U.S. resolution to authorize more sanctions against Pyongyang in response to its controversial nuclear test was formally introduced Tuesday at the U.N. Security Council by U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice.

According to a Security Council diplomat familiar with the negotiations, the draft resolution contains sanctions targeting specific technology known to be used for uranium enrichment. These new sanctions go beyond those contained in existing resolutions.

The draft sanctions resolution also includes restrictions on a list of luxury goods such as jewelry, yachts, luxury automobiles and racing cars, according to the diplomat. These are specifically singling out the interests of the regime's ruling elite. Some luxury goods had already been banned by a Security Council resolution prompted by North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006.

For the first time, the Security Council would be pressuring North Korean diplomatic personnel, calling for vigilance on diplomats engaged in illicit activities such as moving large amounts of cash across borders. The draft sanctions resolution would aim to stop North Korean officials using diplomatic pouches to bring money back to North Korea, according to the person familiar with the negotiations.