North Korea Threatens to Conduct Nuclear Test

North Korea has made fresh threats Thursday saying that it will answer the "political provocation" of the United Nations by considering another nuclear test.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry released this statement just two days after a United Nations committee voted to adopt a resolution, as per which the Security Council is allowed to refer North Korean leaders to the International Criminal Court for prosecution in view of the extensive violations of human rights carried out in the country, The New York Times reports.

"The reality is the need for us to maintain powerful state capability in order to defend our people's human rights," said Choe Myong Nam, North Korea's U.N. representative, CNN reports. "The outrageous and unreasonable human rights campaign staged by the United States and its followers in their attempts to eliminate the state and social system of the (North Korea) is compelling us not to refrain any further from conducting nuclear tests," Nam added.

Previously, the impenetrable country has conducted nuclear test in 2006, 2009 and the latest in February 2013. In fact, new satellite images have shown fresh activity at one of North Korea's nuclear facilities, BBC reports.

The Associated Press reports that this is the first time a U.N. resolution has included the proposition of targeting North Korea's absolute leader Kim Jong-un by prosecutors. Before the U.N. vote, a North Korean envoy threatened a nuclear test, Business Insider reports.

North Korean authorities said the resolution was based on "fabricated testimonies" from North Korean defectors and "slander against Pyongyang".

However, it must be mentioned that North Korea's main ally China voted against the resolution and has hinted that it would veto any move at the Security Council to refer the matter to ICC.