UN panel blasts North Korea for building nukes while its people starve

FILE – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles as children eat during his visit to the Pyongyang Orphanage on International Children’s Day in this undated photo, June 2, 2014. (Photo Courtesy: Reuters)

A United Nations committee condemned North Korea Tuesday for building nuclear weapons and missiles while its population starves.

The European Union and Japan co-sponsored the resolution in the human rights committee. It passed by consensus and will go the General Assembly.

It condemns the North for “diverting its resources into pursuing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles over the welfare of its people.”

Experts believe as many as 70 percent of North Koreans do not have enough food.

The resolution also strongly criticized Pyongyang for “gross human rights violations” including torture, executions without trials and arbitrary arrests.

The resolution also demands that North Korea provide detained foreign nationals with counselor access and communication with their families.

North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Ja Song Nam attends a G-77 Ministerial Meeting at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 22, 2017. (Photo Courtesy: AP)

North Korea’s U.N. ambassador Ja Song Nam says his government “categorically rejects” the resolution, saying it is part of the “political and military confrontation, plot, and conspiracy of the United States and other hostile forces.” | via Voice of America

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