(Image source: Atlantic Council ) BY JASMINE BAILEY Tensions are flamed in the Korean Peninsula after North Korea threatened “strong physical countermeasures” against South Korea. Here’s how CNN translated the country's evening newscast. “The presenter talks of the puppet group of traitors— Pyongyang’s term for the government of South Korea. We will take strong physical countermeasures against them, she reads.” The statement warns that threat will come to fruition if South Korea helps enforce tightened sanctions imposed by the UN on the North earlier this week. Those sanctions were punishment for Pyongyang’s December launch of a long-range rocket. On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning North Korea’s Dec. 12 rocket launch. Frequent allies of the North — even China and Russia didn’t stand in the way of those new, tighter sanctions. And South Korea has made it clear it does not back the North either, saying it would not tolerate the North’s nuclear program and would deal sternly with North Korean provocations. But the North’s threat against its southern counterpart isn’t the first account of heated language from the communist country since its actions were condemned on Tuesday. As we reported Wednesday — North Korea had just called the U.S. its “archenemy” and said it planned to conduct another nuclear test despite international sanction. North Korea’s state-run news service issued a statement saying... “Settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force… The world will clearly see how the army and people of the DPRK punish all kinds of hostile forces and emerge as a final victor...” The U.N. sanctions notably had the support of China— Pyongyang’s economic lifeline— suggesting growing frustration with its longtime ally. A state-run newspaper in Beijing warned... “If North Korea engages in further nuclear tests, China will not hesitate to reduce its assistance to North Korea.”   And although North Korea has promised to continue nuclear weapon launches— it’s no secret it is very behind on technology. So would the country even be capable of carrying out its promise? The past does show that Pyongyang’s treats may not be completely empty. In 2006 and 2009 it successfully conducted nuclear tests— both condemned by the U.N. And after a failed rocket launch in April, Pyongyang succeeded in December 2012. And as ABC points out — created a growing worry for South Korea and the rest of the world.   “Analysts say American intelligence, international agency intelligence— it all concludes that the North Korean nuclear and missile capabilities are getting more sophisticated. And that is a concern.” The Associated Press reports — experts say North Korea still doesn't have the capability to make a rocket re-enter the atmosphere and hit a target. Nor is it believed to have miniaturized a nuclear device to mount on a rocket. A nuclear test could move it closer to that goal. The U.S. still maintains 28,000 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against aggression from the North.