"The General Assembly ... encourages the Security Council to ... take appropriate action to ensure accountability, including through consideration of referral of the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the International Criminal Court and consideration of the further development of sanctions," the resolution said.

The resolution also expresses "very serious concern" at "the exploitation of workers sent abroad from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to work under conditions that reportedly amount to forced labor."

It is the first time a General Assembly resolution has mentioned the North's labor exports, which have become an increasingly important source of hard currency for Pyongyang amid concern that the funds could be used for its nuclear and missile programs.

About 50,000-60,000 North Koreans are believed to be toiling overseas, mainly in the mining, logging, textile and construction industries. The average wage was stated as $120 to $150 per month, but in most cases employing firms paid salaries directly to the North's government.

The North reportedly receives more than $100 million from this system per year.

The 2014 General Assembly resolution is considered a watershed moment in international efforts to improve the North's human rights situation as it marked the first time for the Assembly to call for the North's referral to the ICC.

That resolution led to the UN Security Council holding consultations on the issue for the first time later that year. In addition, a similar resolution was adopted last year and the Security Council also held discussions on the North's human rights situation for the second time.

North Korea has long been labeled as one of the worst human rights violators. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.

But the North has bristled at such criticism, calling it a US-led attempt to topple its regime.

After Tuesday's passage, Amb. Kim In-ryong, deputy chief of the North's mission to the UN, told a news conference that the country "categorically rejects" the resolution, claiming it has "political purposes to defame and eliminate the DPRK as well as it is based on lies and fabricated information."

North Korean officials were also asked about the results of the US presidential election.

"We don't care about who becomes US president," said Kim Yong-ho, a North Korean Foreign Ministry director in charge of human rights issues. "The fundamental issue is whether the US has a political will to withdraw its hostile policy toward the DPRK."

Asked whether the North would allow the UN special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation, Tomas Ojea Quintana, to visit the country, Kim said Ojea Quintana is welcome to visit as a law professor from Buenos Aires, but his visit as special rapporteur won't be granted.

South Korea welcomed the latest resolution on human rights in the North, calling it the "toughest-ever" one aimed at sending strong warnings to Pyongyang bent on missile and nuclear weapons while turning a blind eye to its people's livelihood.

"The government urges (the North) to take detailed and practical measures immediately in accordance with the UN resolution to improve human rights conditions for its citizens," Seoul's foreign ministry said in a comment issued in the name of spokesman Cho June-hyuck. (Yonhap)