Pyongyang blasts UN resolution on N. Korea rights abuse

North Korea on Tuesday hit back at a latest UN resolution that condemned Pyongyang’s rights abuses, calling it a “serious provocation” that would undermine peace efforts on the Korean peninsula. The UN General Assembly adopted last week a resolution – which passed by consensus without a vote – condemning the “systematic, widespread and gross” human rights violations in North Korea, AFP reports. The state-run Rodong newspaper slammed the latest resolution as a “serious political provocation against the [North] and a vicious move to tarnish its international image.” The US intention “is to broaden the scope of the sanctions and pressure and escalate them,” it said in an editorial. It also lashed out at a “thoughtless” South Korea for backing the UN bill – a move that would be “tarnishing the atmosphere of improving the north-south ties.”