North Korea faces more heat, this time over human rights

The United Nations Security Council gathered late Monday to discuss North Korea's human rights record, but a key would-be participant was missing: North Korea.

During a U.N. General Assembly gathering last week, 116 countries voted for the resolution accusing North Korea of crimes against humanity. Twenty nations voted against the resolution and 53 abstained.

Now the 15-member Security Council is being urged to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court. China could use its veto power to protect its volatile ally, and Pyongyang is outspoken in its public defense. North Korean leaders accuse the United States and other democratic nations of bullying the impoverished, communist nation of 25 million people.

Before the General Assembly vote, North Korea had threatened further nuclear testing. If the Security Council takes any action, "maybe we will take necessary measures," diplomat Kim Song said. He did not provide details.

It appeared to be the first time that any country's human rights situation has been scheduled for ongoing debate by the U.N.'s most powerful body.

"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.

China and Russia protested the move, the boldest effort yet to confront Pyongyang over the issue. The council "should refrain from doing anything that might cause the escalation of tensions," said China's ambassador, Liu Jieyi.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said Monday that he was closely following the Security Council's actions. "Human rights should be given the highest priority" in any country," said Ban, who is South Korean.

Shortly after the Security Council convened, a North Korean diplomat said Pyongyang refused to recognize the meeting. "We totally reject the attempt" to have the council discuss or investigate the country's human rights record, Kim Song told the Associated Press. He said the U.N. body should instead examine the recent report on CIA torture.

The human rights issue is coming to a head days after the FBI confirmed that North Korea was behind a cyberattack of Sony Pictures. North Korea has denied involvement in the hack, which included threats to moviegoers. That led to a delay, at least, in release of The Interview, a CIA spoof centered around a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

President Obama said he will "respond proportionately" to the cyberattack.

The U.N. Human Rights Council established its Commission of Inquiry targeting North Korea in March 2013, kicking off the investigation into allegations of "systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights." The commission's report, published in February, leveled withering criticism at Pyongyang for its abuses.

"These crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation," the report says.

The report estimated that up to 120,000 political prisoners were detained in four prison camps, where deliberate starvation has been used as a means of control and punishment.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged prompt action, saying that "its findings need to be treated with the greatest urgency, as they suggest that crimes against humanity of an unimaginable scale continue to be committed" in North Korea.