North Korea has said it will intensify its nuclear weapons program following a UN resolution that recommended legal proceedings be brought against Pyongyang for its human rights record, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.

This threat came as new commercial satellite images appeared to indicate fresh activity at a North Korean nuclear facility.

'Grave political provocation'

A UN committee on Tuesday voted to ask the Security Council to refer North Korea to The Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity. North Korea has previously rejected claims of human right violations. On Thursday, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said that the resolution's approval was a "grave political provocation" by the United States and such "aggression is leaving us unable to further refrain from staging a new nuclear test.”

This is the first time a UN resolution has included the idea that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, could be targeted by the ICC.

China and Russia against the resolution

China and Russia can be expected to exercise their veto powers to block any binding resolution that may be introduced on the Security Council, as both voted against the non-binding resolution passed on the committee level on Tuesday.

North Korea also knows the two countries do not want another nuclear test by Pyongyang, Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University told the Associated Press.

North Korea has made similar threats during previous periods of increased tension. It previously conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Each time, the international community responded by imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang.

ra/pfd (AP, dpa)