Report: North Korea rejects U.N. resolution criticizing Pyongyang's human rights

The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee approved the resolution Friday. The resolution expressed "very serious concern" at rights violations in North Korea, including the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, the "all-pervasive and severe restrictions" on freedom of thought and religion, and violations of workers' rights.

Before the committee passed the resolution by a vote of 95 to 24 with 62 abstentions, the deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York said it was part of a conspiracy to upend the isolated communist state.

"The resolution is a product of a political plot to forcibly change North Korea's system and ideology," the deputy Pak Dok Hun said, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The 192-member General Assembly is expected to vote on the resolution next month. It is not legally binding but carries moral weight and is supposed to reflect the majority view of world opinion.

South Korea co-sponsored the resolution for the first time, in a clear departure from a decade of liberal rule under which Seoul abstained or stayed away from U.N. human rights votes for fear that criticizing Pyongyang would hurt bilateral ties and damage efforts to resolve a nuclear standoff.

Pak denounced South Korea's decision to co-sponsor the resolution, saying it was "a provocation to the North's dignity," according to Yonhap.

He said South Korea "will face the dearest price" for its "treacherous act," according to South Korea's news channel YTN.

The warnings come amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula over the North's threat to ban border crossings starting next month.

Relations between the two Koreas have been tense since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February with a pledge to get tough on the North.

North Korea has ratcheted up accusations against the South in recent weeks over what it calls Seoul's refusal to clamp down on "confrontational" activities, including the distribution of leaflets critical of the North's communist government.

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