U.N. panel: Refer N. Korea to world criminal court

United Nations • The world's boldest effort yet to hold North Korea and leader Kim Jong Un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity moved forward Tuesday at the United Nations, where a North Korean envoy threatened further nuclear tests.

The U.N. General Assembly's human-rights committee approved a resolution that urges the Security Council to refer the country to the International Criminal Court. The nonbinding resolution now goes to the General Assembly for a vote in the coming weeks. China and Russia, which hold veto power on the council, voted against it.

The resolution was inspired by a groundbreaking U.N. report early this year that declared North Korea's human-rights situation "exceeds all others in duration, intensity and horror."

The idea that their young leader could be targeted by prosecutors sent North Korean officials on a furious campaign to derail the effort, finding it a potential embarrassment and threat to his carefully choreographed image.

North Korea sent a sharp warning in comments before the vote. Trying to punish it over human rights "is compelling us not to refrain any further from conducting nuclear tests," said Choe Myong Nam, a foreign ministry adviser. His colleagues gave no details on that threat. Choe also accused the European Union and Japan, the resolution's co-sponsors, of "subservience and sycophancy" to the United States.

The European Union quickly issued a statement welcoming the support of 111 countries in the vote. Nineteen countries voted against; 55 abstained.

Human-rights groups turned their attention to China and Russia, which could block any Security Council move. "No Security Council country, including China, can deny the horror endured by so many North Koreans," Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement just after the vote. "The time has come for justice."