UN Security Council takes up North Korea's human rights

The UN Security Council took up the issue of North Korea's bleak human rights situation for the first time Monday, a groundbreaking step toward possibly holding the nuclear-armed but desperately poor country and leader Kim Jong-un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity. North Korea quickly denounced the move.

The meeting appeared to be the first time that any country's human rights situation has been scheduled for ongoing debate by the UN's most powerful body, meaning that the issue now can be brought up at any time. It also came amid U.S. accusations that North Korea was behind a devastating hacking attack.

"Today, we have broken the council's silence. We have begun to shine a light, and what it has revealed is terrifying," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.

Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, called for all sides to avoid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. He also called for calm and restraint on the peninsula, according to a statement posted on China's Foreign Ministry's website on Tuesday.

• What's Obama going to do about the Sony cyberattack?
• Analysis | Theatres shunning The Interview are likely buckling to 'an empty threat'
• Should The Interview be shown in theatres?

International pressure has built this year on Pyongyang after a sprawling UN-backed inquiry of alleged crimes against humanity and warned that young leader Kim Jong-un could be held accountable. And attention has focused on the North in recent days, as the Obama administration on Friday blamed it for the devastating hacking attack on Sony over the film The Interview, which portrays Kim's assassination.

Now the 15-member Security Council is being urged to refer North Korea's human rights situation to the International Criminal Court, seen as a court of last resort for atrocities. It's the boldest effort yet to confront Pyongyang over an issue it has openly disdained in the past.

Instead of a showdown, North Korea says it will not attend Monday's meeting. It accuses the United States and its allies of using the human rights issue as a weapon to overthrow the leadership of the impoverished but nuclear-armed nation. It also calls the dozens of people who fled the North and aided the commission of inquiry "human scum."

If the council takes any action, "maybe we will take necessary measures," diplomat Kim Song told The Associated Press on Friday. He did not give details.

North Korea already sent a sharp warning last month, threatening further nuclear tests after the UN General Assembly's human rights committee voted to move the issue toward the Security Council, which can take binding actions on matters of international peace and security.

• North Korea threatens nuclear tests after UN push on human rights

The council has had North Korea's nuclear program on its agenda for years, but Monday's meeting opens the door to wider discussion of abuses alleged in the recent inquiry, including starvation and a harsh political prison camp system of up to 120,000 inmates. Pyongyang rejects the inquiry's findings but never allowed it into the country.

Two-thirds of the Security Council this month formally requested that North Korea's human rights situation be placed on the agenda for ongoing debate, saying rights violations "threaten to have a destabilizing impact on the region."

China and its veto power as a permanent council member could block any action against its traditional but troublesome ally, but the mere threat of damage to Kim Jong-un's image has outraged the North Korean government.

Such fury is thought to be behind the Sony hacking. North Korea has denied the attack but has suggested it was a "righteous deed" carried out by sympathizers.

Sony last week cancelled the Christmas Day release of The Interview, setting off alarm among some diplomats and entertainment figures who warned of setting a precedent for backing down in the face of future threats. The hacking is expected to be discussed in Monday's meeting.