U.N. committee denounces North Korea human rights violations

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A United Nations General Assembly committee has adopted a North Korea human rights resolution that includes information the U.N. Security Council would need in order to refer the cases to the International Criminal Court.

The resolution passed on Thursday afternoon with 112 members in favor, 19 opposed and 50 members abstaining from a vote, South Korean news network YTN reported. The motion is to move to the full General Assembly in December.

The resolution calls for imposing a series of selective sanctions against individuals most responsible for crimes against humanity, while urging the U.N. Security Council to be continuously and actively involved in North Korea human rights issues.

Two of the five permanent members of the Security Council, Russia and China, however, are traditional partners of Pyongyang, and have treaded carefully on the issue of North Korea human rights.

The resolution also calls for the immediate closure of North Korean prison camps and the release of political prisoners, and requested member states of the International Labor Organization to ratify all labor agreements.

Defectors have testified before the U.N. that Pyongyang deploys tens of thousands of unpaid laborers overseas in order to earn much needed foreign currency for the regime.

On Tuesday, Ri Hung Sik, North Korea's ambassador-at-large, had said the resolution was malicious slander and that he had requested the authors, the European Union and Japan, to abandon the motion.

Choe Myong Nam, North Korea's deputy ambassador, said on Thursday ahead of the vote that the measure was a hostile conspiracy led by the United States, and was a product of military confrontation.