North Korea slams South for UN human rights vote

SOUTH KOREA: North Korea has accused bitter rival South Korea of committing a crime against peace on the peninsula by casting its vote for a U.N. resolution that chastised Pyongyang for having an abysmal record on human rights.

A U.N. General Assembly panel rebuked North Korea on Friday for gross human rights abuses.

South Korea voted for a draft resolution criticising its Stalinist neighbour for torture, public executions and miserable prison conditions. The measure was passed by a vote of 91-21, with 60 abstentions.

"South Korea's vote for the U.N. resolution on human rights is an anti-nationalistic provocation that joins a U.S. criminal act, and an intolerable act destroying inter-Korean relations," said a spokesman for the group charged with managing Pyongyang's ties with the South.

"South Korea should bear whole responsibility for its crime, which created another obstacle to inter-Korean relations," said the spokesman, cited by the official KCNA news agency late on Saturday.

Fearful of antagonising its heavily armed neighbour, Seoul had previously abstained or refrained from participating in votes in various U.N. bodies on human rights in the North. South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon takes over as U.N. secretary-general on Jan. 1.

Seoul, Sunday, Reuters.