Pyongyang condemns passage of U.N. resolution on N.K. human rights

North Korea warned Thursday that it will explore every measure possible to counter a United Nations committee's latest adoption of a resolution condemning Pyongyang's human rights abuses.

   North Korea's mission to the U.N. released a statement saying that the passage of the U.N. resolution is the outcome of political plots and collusion with an aim at choking North Korea, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

   The North's reaction came as the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee on Tuesday passed the resolution which calls for referring the dismal human rights situation to the International Criminal Court and expresses serious concerns about Pyongyang's labor exports.

   The resolution also specified that human rights violations in North Korea are being perpetrated by "institutions under the effective control of North Korea's leadership," calling for accountability.

   "The move clearly has political purposes to isolate and choke off us as (the U.N.) joined Washington-led drive to press sanctions on us," the KCNA said.

   North Korea has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators in the world. Pyongyang has bristled at such criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime. (Yonhap)