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The warning came a day after the North Korean People's Army threatened to attack the United States and its South Korean ally  with "lighter and smaller nukes" – an outburst provoked by the United Nations Security Council's consideration of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang as punishment for its February nuclear blast.

 North Korea's typically strident rhetoric has grown bolder following its successful recent tests of a long-range rocket and nuclear device, especially in the past week as the United States and South Korea started their joint annual  military exercises.

South Korea usually does not respond to North Korean tongue-lashing, dismissing it as propaganda. But amid fears among officials and analysts here that North Korea might provoke a deadly skirmish to shake the new government of President Park Geun-hye and destabilize the region, the South Korean military called a news conference on Wednesday to deliver one of its most categorical public warnings in  in recent months.

"If North Korea attempts a provocation that threatens the lives and security of our people, our military will forcefully and decisively strike not only the origin of provocation and its supporting forces but also its command leadership," said Maj. Gen. Kim Yong-hyun, chief operations officer at the military's Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We make it clear that we are all prepared."

The two Koreas' front-line units exchanges artillery fire in 2010 after North Korea launched a barrage against a South Korean border island. That same year, 46 South Korean sailors were killed when their navy corvette sank in an explosion that the South blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. South Korea has since vowed to strike back with a deadlier force if North Korea provokes again.

Despite such warnings, however, officials feared that  the young Mr. Kim, or a new crop of ambitious North Korean generals under him, might be emboldened by their nuclear weapons to believe that they could get way with new provocations with impunity.

"We read their confidence in nuclear weapons behind their  aggressive, more provocative rhetoric and actions recently," said Chang Yong-seok, an analyst at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University. "There is a higher possibility of North Korea attempting a provocation, something that would involve limited causalities but have all the impact that one expects from an armed provocation."

Threats to attack the United States and South Korea are almost a daily fare in North Korea, where its governing "military-first" ideology  is based on a belief that the isolated country was on the verge of invasion and must sacrifice to build a strong military to assure independence and prosperity. Still, unlike his late father, Kim Jong-il, who had seldom spoken in public, Mr. Kim has often been quoted in recent North Korean media reports with militant rhetorical blasts.

The verbal sparring came as the United Nations Security Council moved closer to expanding sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile activities. The United States and China introduced a resolution that would target North Korean bankers and overseas cash couriers, tighten inspections of suspect ship and air cargo, and subject the country's diplomats to invasive scrutiny and increased risk of expulsion.

Passage of the measure, drafted in response to the third North Korean underground nuclear test three weeks ago, seemed all but assured, in part because China — North Korea's major benefactor — participated in drafting the language. It would be the fourth Security Council sanctions resolution on North Korea, which has defied the previous measures with increasing belligerence. A vote was expected on Thursday.

Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, who introduced the resolution in a closed session of the 15-member Security Council, told reporters afterward that it "builds upon, strengthens and significantly expands the scope of the strong U.N. sanctions already in place."

For the first time, she said, the resolution would target "the illicit activities of North Korean diplomatic personnel, North Korean banking relationships, illicit transfers of bulk cash and new travel restrictions." In the past, North Korea has been accused of running extensive counterfeiting and illegal drug enterprises, to raise much-needed hard currency.

Ms. Rice declined to predict whether the North would respond with another nuclear test or other retaliation. "All I can tell you is that the international community is united and very firm in its opposition to North Korea's illicit nuclear and missile programs," she said. "And the more provocations that occur, the more isolated and impoverished, sadly, North Korea will become."

The Americans did not publicly release the resolution text. But a Security Council diplomat familiar with the measure, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the language may still be subject to revision, said it broke new ground with restrictions and prohibitions on North Korean banking transactions, new travel restrictions and increased monitoring of North Korean ship and air cargo.

The diplomat also said that the resolution added a special lubricant and valve, needed for uranium enrichment, to items that North Korea cannot import.

The resolution would also place greater scrutiny on North Korean diplomatic personnel who are suspected of carrying proscribed goods and cash under the guise of official business, exposing them to possible deportation. "We know there are diplomats out there cooking up deals and moving funds around," the Security Council diplomat said.

Among the other provisions, the diplomat said the resolution also included new language aimed at enforcement that had been absent from the earlier resolutions. It requires, for example, that if a North Korean cargo vessel crew refuses a host country's request for inspection, the host is under a legal obligation to deny the vessel port access.

If a cargo plane is suspected of carrying prohibited goods to or from North Korea, the resolution would urge, but not require, that it be denied permission to fly over any other country — a new provision that could affect China, which routinely permits North Korean flights over its territory.