North Korea threatened on Sunday to “bolster its war deterrent” in response to UN-agreed sanctions to curb its missile programme, but the US and China told Pyongyang it faced no option but to return to talks.

Washington and Beijing avoided a damaging split on Saturday with the unanimous adoption of a compromise Security Council resolution, which fell short of invoking its powerful Chapter 7 enforcement powers, a red line for China, but cited the UN’s “special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security”.