NKorea slams South for UN human rights vote

SEOUL, Nov 19: North Korea has accused bitter rival South Korea of committing a crime against peace on the peninsula by casting its vote for a UN resolution that chastised Pyongyang for having an abysmal record on human rights.

A UN 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 UN resolution on human rights is an anti-nationalistic provocation that joins a US 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 yesterday.

Fearful of antagonising its heavily armed neighbour, Seoul had previously abstained or refrained from participating in votes in various UN bodies on human rights in the North.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon takes over as UN secretary-general on Jan 1.

Warming ties between the two Koreas began to chill after North Korea defied international warnings and test-fired missiles in July.

Its Oct 9 nuclear test triggered international outrage as well as anger in the South, and led to UN sanctions against North Korea.

The UN resolution criticises North Korea for a wide variety of abuses, such as ''torture and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'', arbitrary detention, using the death penalty for political reasons, extensive use of forced labour and deplorable conditions in prison camps.

North Korea bristles at any criticism of its human rights record, saving some of it most heated rhetoric for those who challenge how the reclusive state treats its citizens.

REUTERS