ANKARA

North Korea said a new multilateral sanctions monitoring team led by the US was “utterly unlawful and illegitimate,” and the countries joining it would pay “dearly,” state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.

The US, South Korea and Japan this week announced the launch of a new 11-member team to monitor the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. Other countries are Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

Russia in March rejected the annual renewal of a UN panel of experts monitoring North Korea’s compliance with international sanctions. China had abstained from the vote.

"Contrary to the recognized principles of international law with equality in sovereignty and noninterference in other’s internal affairs as their core, the US and its vassal countries are working hard to revive the structure of sanctions and pressure against the DPRK, which went bankrupt structurally and is on the verge of collapse," Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement.

"I express serious concern and regret over the US habitual misconduct of arbitrarily flouting the international order in pursuit of its hegemonic interests, and vehemently condemn and reject it as a challenge to international justice and the most undisguised violation of the DPRK's sovereignty," she added.

The North Korean minister said that if the US expects "it can surprise the DPRK and stop its advance with such worn-out means as sanctions and pressure, it is just a fatal misjudgment."

"The forces involved in the smear campaign against the DPRK will have to pay dearly for it," the minister warned.

The team is expected to monitor and report violations of UN sanctions, which are designed to prevent Pyongyang from advancing its nuclear and missile programs.