N Korea threatens nuclear tests
North Korea has threatened to conduct nuclear and missile tests unless the UN Security Council apologises for criticising its rocket launch.
Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country "will be compelled to take additional measures for self-defence, including nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests" unless the Council apologises immediately.
The Council adopted a statement earlier this month denouncing the North's April 5 rocket launch and calling for tightening sanctions. North Korea conducted its first-ever nuclear test in 2006.
The threat came days after the North said it had begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex - a move aimed at harvesting weapons-grade plutonium.
North Korea has claimed that the UN rebuke is unfair because the rocket lift-off was a peaceful satellite launch. But the US and others believe it was a test of long-range missile technology.
Under a 2007 six-nation deal, North Korea agreed to disable its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon north of Pyongyang in return for 1 million tons of fuel oil and other concessions. In June 2008, North Korea blew up the cooling tower there in a dramatic show of its commitment to denuclearisation.
But disablement came to halt a month later as Pyongyang wrangled with Washington over how to verify its past atomic activities. The latest round of talks, in December, failed to push the process forward.