The UN reports widespread human rights abuse in North Korea

(Vatican Radio) In North Korea internet services have been restored after an almost unprecedented internet outage following a cyber security row with the US.

Though there has been no comment from the authorities in Pyongyang, South Korean officials and US experts reported the restoration.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council has been discussing North Korean human rights abuses.

Listen to the report by Alastair Wanklyn: 

The outage affected North Korea's few Internet connections, which come from China.

Beijing said reports it pulled the plug are "speculative." 

A foreign ministry spokeswoman added, China condemns all hacking, including that conducted through third parties. Reports have said the attack on Sony Pictures may have used computers in another country.

But Beijing on Tuesday urged Washington and Pyongyang to talk about what happened to Sony, which North Korea has offered.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the United Nations Security Council examined alleged North Korean human rights abuses detailed in a report by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry detailing infanticide, executions and torture in North Korean prison camps.

"It documents a totalitarian system that is characterised by brutally enforced denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion."

Assistant Secretary General Ivan Simonovic called it a "charge sheet." 

The report was based on interviews with North Korean exiles, and recommended that the organization refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for possible prosecution of its leaders.