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Tougher sanctions against North Korea will only lead to a hastened nuclear programme, Pyongyang said, as US and Chinese leaders agreed to "maximise the pressure" on the regime of Kim Jong-un.

The Kim Jong-un led government was recently slapped with a textile exports ban that would see them lose over a billion dollars annually.

"The increased moves of the US and its vassal forces to impose sanctions and pressure on the DPRK will only increase our pace towards the ultimate completion of the state nuclear force," a statement on North Korean state media said on Monday, using the acronym for the country's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

State news agency KCNA, quoting a foreign ministry statement, said the economic restrictions were an "act of hostility to physically exterminate the people of" North Korea.

"[The US is] disseminating the fraudulent claim that the sanctions and pressure are geared to the so-called peaceful solution," it said.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis played down the threat of North Korea's recent missile launches.

"Number one, those missiles are not directly threatening any of us," Mattis said on Monday.