A UN committee has approved a resolution that urges the examination of the human rights situation in North Korea.
The UN General Assembly's human rights committee supported a resolution that asks the Security Council to refer the the human rights practices of North Korea and the country's leader Kim Jong Un to the International Criminal Court.
The non-binding resolution now goes to the world body’s General Assembly for a vote in the coming weeks.
China and Russia, which hold veto power on the council, voted against it.
The move follows a report early this year that declared North Korea’s human rights situation “exceeds all others in duration, intensity and horror”.
Speaking before the vote, North Korea’s Choe Myong Nam said t rying to punish the country over human rights “is compelling (them) not to refrain any further from conducting nuclear tests”.
Mr Choe also accused the European Union and Japan, the resolution's co-sponsors, of "subservience and sycophancy" to the United States, and promised "unpredictable and serious consequences" if the resolution went forward.
The European Union quickly issued a statement welcoming the support of 111 countries in the vote. Nineteen countries voted against and 55 abstained.
The head of the commission of enquiry, retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, said: "It is admirable that the member states of the United Nations are acting to protect the people of North Korea when their own government fails to do so," and that he was confident the Security Council would "act responsibly".
Human rights groups turned their attention to China and Russia, which have the power to block any Security Council move.
Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, said: “No Security Council country, including China, can deny the horror endured by so many North Koreans.”
Targeted Sanctions
The resolution says the commission of inquiry report found grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed under policies “established at the highest level of the State for decades”.
It calls for targeted sanctions against the people who appear to be most responsible and earlier warned that Kim Jong Un could be included.
Cuba proposed an amendment that would have stripped out the tough language on the ICC, but the committee’s member countries voted it down.
The commission of inquiry report was based on interviews with dozens of people who had fled North Korea and detailed abuses including starvation and a system of harsh prison camps containing up to 120,000 people.
Interviewees included Shin Dong-Hyuk a young man who fled North Korea and has since spoken out against the Pyongyang regime. He was present in the chamber last night.
North Korea has accused people who co-operated with the commission of inquiry of lying, and produced a video showing Mr Shin’s father in North Korea condemning him.
But Mr Shin, who bowed to Japan’s ambassador in thanks after the vote, said North Korea’s attempt to intimidate him and others backfired. “This was an overwhelming defeat,” he said.
PA