The measures restrict oil imports and ban textile exports - an attempt to starve the North of fuel and income for its weapons programmes.

The US had originally proposed harsher sanctions including a total ban on oil imports.

Pyongyang said it "categorically rejected" what it called an "illegal" resolution.

North Korea's ambassador to the UN, Han Tae Song, told a conference in Geneva: "The forthcoming measures by DPRK [the Democratic Republic of Korea] will make the US suffer the greatest pain it has ever experienced in its history."

Monday's vote was only passed unanimously after Pyongyang allies Russia and China agreed to the reduced measures.

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