President Park Geun-hye vowed Wednesday to make all diplomatic efforts to ensure that the U.N. Security Council can adopt a resolution to slap the most powerful sanctions on North Korea.

The U.N. Security Council has drafted a new sanctions resolution against North Korea after the communist country claimed it successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test.

North Korea has already been under tightened U.N. sanctions for its three previous nuclear tests: in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Still, North Korea has pressed ahead with its nuclear ambitions in defiance of the sanctions.

Park said South Korea has coordinated with the U.S. on a draft U.N. resolution and that close consultations with China on the draft resolution are also under way.

The sanctions "will be useless unless we ensure North Korea feels" pain and changes its course, Park said in a televised news conference.

North Korea has repeatedly pledged to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem, viewing its nuclear program as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington's hostile policy toward it.

Park called on China to play a "necessary role" for strong sanctions on North Korea, saying China could be well aware that Beijing cannot keep Pyongyang from carrying out "a fifth or sixth nuclear test" unless it translates its commitment into action.

China has voiced its firm opposition to North Korea's nuclear program, though officials and experts in South Korea and other regional powers say China is reluctant to go too far on North Korea because it could destabilize North Korea.

China is a key ally of North Korea and is believed to have significant leverage over North Korea but is apparently concerned that a sudden collapse of North Korea could threaten China's own security interests.

Chinese support is crucial in adopting a new resolution for sanctions as it is one of the veto-wielding five permanent members of the council. The four other members are the U.S., Britain, France and Russia.

"I believe that China will play a necessary role as a permanent member of the Security Council," Park said.

The comments came as the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass a tough sanctions bill on North Korea for its fourth nuclear test.

The legislation calls for mandatory sanctions against people that have materially contributed to North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile development or engaged in other destructive activities, including importing or exporting materials related to weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. is also looking into ways to "squeeze" the North with multilateral and unilateral sanctions, according to White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.

Still, U.S. President Barack Obama made no mention of North Korea in his final State of the Union address in a public snub against Pyongyang's nuclear test.

North Korea's latest nuclear test has rekindled the debate whether South Korea should ditch its denuclearization policy and build its own nuclear weapons.

Park voiced her opposition to South Korea's nuclear armament, saying it would break South Korea's commitment to the international community.

"I don't think we need nuclear" weapons in South Korea, Park said, citing Washington's nuclear umbrella to Seoul.

 In 1991, Washington withdrew tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea.

Park also said North Korea could carry out additional provocations or cyber-attacks given its "deceptive and reckless" behavior.

She also called on the National Assembly to approve an anti-terrorism bill to brace for any possible terrorist attack. The anti-terrorism bill has gained new momentum following the deadly attacks in Paris last year that killed more than 120 people.

Park vowed to strengthen psychological warfare against North Korea, calling it "the surest and most effective" means. She also said the most powerful threat against the totalitarian country is the truth.

"We will continue to make efforts to tell the truth to North Koreans," Park said.

Last week, South Korea resumed anti-Pyongyang broadcasts along the heavily fortified border with North Korea in the first tangible retaliation to the nuclear test.

Last year, North Korea threatened to launch "strong military action" against loudspeakers blaring messages critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korea views anti-Pyongyang broadcasts as an insult to its supreme dignity. 

South Korea has begun restricting the entry of its people into a factory park in the North Korean border city of Kaesong as a precaution amid tensions.

The sprawling capitalist enclave, the last-remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation, is home to more than 120 small South Korean plants that produce garments and other labor-intensive goods. More than 54,300 North Koreans work in the complex.

Park said whether South Korea will take additional steps on the factory park is up to North Korea.

The project serves as a major legitimate revenue source for North Korea. The head of an association that speaks for South Koreans who run factories in Kaesong estimates the annual payment by South Korean companies could reach about $1 billion. The South Korean government declined to confirm it.

North Korea unilaterally closed the factory park in early 2013 in anger over South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises. But the sides resumed the operation of the factory park later that year, as the North pledged not to shut it down again "under any circumstances."

Separately, Park said the symbolic statue at the heart of lingering diplomatic tensions with Japan is not something that the South Korean government could interfere with.

Tokyo demands that the bronze statue of a girl symbolizing former South Korean sex slaves for Japan's World War II soldiers be removed from outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. 

South Korea has pledged to make efforts to help address Tokyo's demand "in an appropriate manner," though it said it is a matter to be decided by local activists who established it.

South Korea and Japan have recently reached a deal to resolve the decades-long row over the former sex slaves. Japan offered an apology and vowed to provide 46 surviving Korean victims with 1 billion yen in compensation from its national budget.

Park said she could meet with the former sex slaves, though she did not provide any specific time frame. (Yonhap)