U.N. chided for North Korean presidency

WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- North Korea presiding over a U.N. conference on disarmament suggests the United Nations is out of step with expectations, a U.S. lawmaker said.

North Korea assumes the rotating presidency of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said this was reprehensible considering North Korea's reputation.

"Time and again, the United Nations demonstrates that it is in dire need of real reform," she said in a statement. "The United Nations must place pressure on rogue regimes, not hand them chairman gavels."

Presidencies at the United Nations are rotated among all member states based on alphabetical order for an equal term duration.

The congresswoman said she was reintroducing legislation that would condition U.S. funding to the United Nations based on implementations of real reform.

The U.S. Geological Survey detected seismic indications in 2006 that in part verified North Korean claims that it tested its first nuclear device. Two similar reports surfaced in 2009.