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United Nations General Assembly in New York (Hankyoreh file photo)

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a North Korean human rights resolution recommending that the Security Council consider referring the issue to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It was the third such resolution, after previous ones in 2014 and 2015.

On Dec. 19, the General Assembly passed the resolution by consensus at a regular session at the UN headquarters in New York. The Assembly has adopted resolutions on North Korea human rights for 12 straight years since 2005.

“Crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea . . . by institutions under the effective control of its leadership,” the resolution read, indirectly targeting leader Kim Jong-un for accusation. For the first time, the resolution also included a message of concern about possible infringements of the human rights of North Korean workers overseas and a call for immediate release of foreigners abducted to North Korea.

Ri Song-chol, a counselor to North Korea’s mission to the UN, voiced objections ahead of the resolution’s adoption, calling it “a resolution made under US leadership for the political aim of isolating North Korea and bringing down its regime.”

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent in New York

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