The US has slammed North Korea as a "living nightmare" for its citizens at the first-ever UN Security Council meeting on Pyongyang's dismal human rights record.
The unprecedented talks at the 15-member council opened after China, Pyongyang's ally, failed to block the meeting held as North Korea faces US accusations of staging a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures.
US envoy Samantha Power said a UN commission of inquiry that compiled testimonies from North Korean exiles showed a pattern of "sadistic punishments meted out to prisoners" and exposed the regime's brutality.
"They show North Korea for what it is: a living nightmare," she said.
Ms Power accused North Korea of carrying out a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures that exposed embarrassing emails and scuttled the release of The Interview, a movie about a fictional plot to kill leader Kim Jong-Un.
North Korea's offer to conduct a joint investigation of the hack attack with the United States was "absurd", she said, before calling on the council to take action.
The meeting opened with China raising objections, triggering a procedural raised-hand vote in which 11 of the 15 council members supported putting North Korea on the agenda.
The UN General Assembly put the international spotlight on North Korea when it adopted a landmark resolution last week calling on the Security Council to consider referring Pyongyang to the International Criminal Court.
Approved by a resounding majority, the resolution drew heavily from the UN inquiry report released in February that detailed a vast network of prison camps holding up to 120,000 people, along with cases of torture, summary executions and rape.
The inquiry concluded that North Korea was committing human rights violations "without parallel in the contemporary world", and that these were ordered by the highest level of the state.
Under UN procedures, North Korea had the right to attend the council meeting and voice its views, but it decided to stay away.
- AFP
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