North Korea Condemns US Human Rights Rhetoric

North Korea on Saturday bashed the United States for organizing a meeting of the UN Security Council to examine conditions in the Asian country and their effects on international peace and security.

The United States and eight other members of the UN Security Council voted in favor of a second round of discussions on human rights in North Korea, which has been accused by a UN investigation of abuses comparable to Nazi-era atrocities.

North Korean diplomats did not show up at the session, at which US and its allies accused Pyongyang of ferocious human rights violations. US Ambassador Samantha Power said abuses are a "nightmare" and represent "a level of horror unrivaled in the world."

"We strongly denounce and categorically reject the US convocation of another meeting of the UN Security Council aimed at finding fault with the 'human rights' in the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) despite opposition by many countries," North Korea's Foreign Ministry said, according to a statement by the country's UN mission.

The meeting met objections from four countries, including the Council's permanent members with veto rights China and Russia, which said the Council was not the appropriate forum. According to North Korea, the opposition indicated that the US is being groundlessly hostile toward Pyongyang.

"This revealed the sinister aim sought by the US in its farce and hardened the objective understanding that the US anti-DPRK 'human rights' racket is a product of its persistent hostile policy toward the DPRK," the statement said, as cited by Reuters.

The Asian state suggested that it would be better for the Council to handle such issues as torture committed by the US.

According to a recent the Harris Poll study conducted for Human Rights First, American citizens believe there is no sufficient action from the US government on fundamental human rights issues, including ending human trafficking, confronting anti-Semitism, closing Guantanamo Bay, preventing torture and combating violent extremism.

The first meeting on the issue of human rights violation in North Korea was convened last year in December.

The 193-member UN General Assembly has urged the UN Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court after a UN Commission of Inquiry report on wide-ranging abuses in the reclusive country. The measure wasn't pushed forward due to the likelihood that China would veto it.

The Commission documented North Korea's network of political prisons and widespread human violations that include systematic torture, enslavement, rape and killings.