North Korea slams UN human rights vote, vows to bolster nuclear capacity
Pyongyang lashes out at the US and UN over General Assembly resolution calling on the Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court over human rights
North Korea on Saturday vowed to bolster its nuclear capacity, slamming a UN resolution calling for it to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its human rights record.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution by a strong majority that asks the Security Council to refer North Korea to the ICC and to consider targeted sanctions against the Pyongyang leadership for the repression of its citizens.
North Korea will increase “efforts to bolster up in every way its capability for self-defence, including nuclear force,” the foreign ministry said in a statement carried on the official Korean Central News Agency.
It denounced the UN resolution as the “culmination of the ugly US policy of hostility” toward North Korea, and said the “denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula has lost all its relevance”.
The North’s foreign ministry last month warned that the isolated state was being pushed into conducting a fresh nuclear test, rejecting the UN attacks over its dismal human rights record.
