THE UN general assembly’s human rights committee has approved a resolution urging the security council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Pyongyang responded to Tuesday night’s vote — which saw 111 countries approve the resolution, 19 vote against it and 55 abstain — by threatening further nuclear tests.

Attempts to punish it for human rights abuses “compels us not to refrain any further from conducting the tests,” said DPRK foreign ministry UN and human rights adviser Choe Myong Nam.