A report by U.S. broadcaster Fox News says U.S. intelligence officials have informed President Barack Obama that North Korea intends to conduct a third nuclear test.

The report said the North’s possible move is in response to the scheduled passage Friday of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Pyongyang's recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

According to the report, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has learned through sources inside North Korea that its next nuclear detonation is but one of four planned actions the North intends to take once the Security Council resolution is officially passed.

The other three actions reportedly include the reprocessing of all the North's spent plutonium fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium, a major escalation in the North's uranium-enrichment program, and the launching of another missile into the Yellow Sea.