The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has threatened to close down the DPRK Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, one of the few communication channels between Pyongyang and Washington. This is the first of the country's counter-measures against new sanctions imposed by the US. 

Earlier, the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un and other senior officials over alleged human rights abuses. The DPRK's Foreign Ministry had urged the US to withdraw the sanctions, saying they were an 'open declaration of war' against the nation, and warned of cutting off all channels of diplomatic contact with the United States if the latter fails to withdraw the sanctions .