North Korea Urges UN Action over 'Inhuman' US Torture
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - North Korea on Wednesday urged the Security Council to censure the United States for its use of "inhuman torture" methods.
Reacting to the release of a scathing US Senate report detailing the CIA's brutal treatment of Al-Qaeda suspects, Pyongyang said the revelations posed a major test of the Security Council's credibility.
Discussing North Korea's rights record while "shutting its eyes" to rights violations by one of its permanent members, would confirm the council's "miserable position" as a "tool for US arbitrary practices," a foreign ministry spokesman said.
As well as the "inhuman torture practised by the CIA," the spokesman cited the recent killings of black suspects by white police officers as another "despicable" strike against America's human rights record.
"If (the Security Council) wants to discuss the human rights issue, it should ... call into question the human rights abuses rampant in the US," he said.
The remarks, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, are part of a concerted effort by North Korea to ward off further censure at the United Nations, AFP reported.
The Security Council is expected to meet this month on North Korea's rights record, following a proposal to refer Pyongyang to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on possible crimes against humanity charges.
The proposal was included in a landmark resolution adopted in a UN General Assembly committee last month.