UN’s top human rights body renews investigation of suspected rights abuses in North Korea

GENEVA – An international investigation that found suspected crimes against humanity and other abuses in North Korea has been renewed for another year, after a testy exchange between diplomats for the communist nation and the United States.

The U.N.’s 47-nation Human Rights Council on Friday approved the resolution, sponsored by the European Union and Japan, on a vote of 30-6, with 11 abstentions.

Greece’s U.N. Ambassador Alexandros Alexandris, speaking for the EU, said nations are “gravely concerned” by suspected crimes discovered so far.

But North Korea’s U.N. envoy So Se Pyong said the resolution’s sponsors had turned the council “into a stage of political confrontation.”

The head of the U.S. delegation, Paula Schriefer, interrupted the North Korean envoy repeatedly to complain he was straying off-topic and inappropriately accusing other nations of crimes.

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