North Korea's UN envoy strongly criticised the United States today of working to block economic development and denounced sanctions imposed on poor countries as an attempt to destroy modern civilization. <br/><br/>Ambassador Ja Song Nam said North Korea will withstand the blow of sanctions and continue along the road of building the socialist power by the spirit of self-reliance and self-development. <br/><br/>Mr. Ja spoke at a debate at the General Assembly that emphasised on the UN's global development goals to eradicate extreme poverty by 2050, advance health and promote education.<br/><br/>The United States led the drive at the Security Council to impose two recent sets of sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests. In August, the council last month expanded the export ban to textile, North Korean guest workers and also capped oil exports to North Korea.