America warned North Korea yesterday to resume talks on its nuclear weapons programme or face further international sanctions. Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, issued the threat hours after the United Nations Security Council passed a unanimous resolution condemning Pyongyang's test-firing of ballistic missiles. "If they do not want to face some of the additional pressures that can be brought to bear on them, they will eventually realise that they have to come back to the talks," Miss Rice said. "That is really the only game in town."But the Security Council resolution, which has the force of international law, was immediately rejected by the Stalinist state. Indulging in its familiar high-octane rhetoric, it described the international community's position as "gangster-like" and a prelude to war. North Korea said it would "bolster its war deterrent for self-defence", shorthand for the nuclear weapons programme thought to have produced six to eight devices.