North Korea has threatened to conduct a nuclear test in response to a United Nations move towards a probe into the country’s human rights violations.<\/p>\n
Its foreign ministry on Thursday accused the United States of orchestrating a recent UN resolution calling for the investigation.<\/p>\n
North Korea previously conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.<\/p>\n
Its threat comes as new satellite images emerge indicating fresh activity at a North Korean nuclear facility.<\/p>\n
A UN human rights committee on Tuesday passed a resolution calling on the Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang said the resolution was based on “fabricated testimonies” from North Korean defectors and “slander against Pyongyang”.<\/p>\n
The resolution’s approval was a “grave political provocation” by the US and such “aggression..is leaving us unable to further refrain from staging a new nuclear test.”<\/p>\n
It added that its military deterrence “will be beefed up limitlessly” to guard against the US.<\/p>\n
A US State Department spokesman said in response: “It would certainly be unfortunate to threaten with that kind of activity in response to the legitimate focus on North Korea’s human rights situation by the international community.”<\/p>\n
‘Unspeakable atrocities’<\/strong><\/p>\n North Korea has previously rejected claims of human rights violations.<\/p>\n Following a UN report alleging the country was committing “unspeakable atrocities”, a Pyongyang official held a rare open briefing last month where he denied the existence of prison camps, and said there were only detention centres.<\/p>\n Tuesday’s resolution drew heavily on the report, which was released in February.<\/p>\n Analysts however say that it is unlikely that the Security Council will allow North Korea to be tried in the ICC, as Russia and China – which voted against the resolution – sit on the Council.<\/p>\n North Korean man “saw mother executed in front of him” in a camp<\/p>\n North Korea’s nuclear test threat comes as a US research institute published new evidence that Pyongyang may be restarting a plant that can reprocess nuclear fuel into weapons-grade plutonium.<\/p>\n The US-Korea Institute posted recent satellite images showing activity at a radiochemical laboratory at the Yongbyon facility on 38 North, its website devoted to North Korea analysis.<\/p>\n The pictures show a cooling tower emitting steam, vehicles coming and going, and piles of “grey material” stacked outside a facility believed to be manufacturing fuel.<\/p>\n Previous nuclear tests by North Korea provoked international condemnation and sanctions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" North Korea has threatened to conduct a nuclear test in response to a United Nations move towards a probe into the country’s human rights violations. Its foreign ministry on Thursday accused the United States of orchestrating a recent UN resolution calling for the investigation. North Korea previously conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":66839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n