The United States says a new United Nations report "clearly and unequivocally documents the brutal reality" of North Korea's human rights abuses.
Washington strongly welcomes and supports the report, "which provides compelling evidence of widespread, systematic, and grave human rights violations" by the reclusive regime, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Monday.
In the hard-hitting report, a UN team said North Korea's leaders should be brought before an international court for a litany of crimes against humanity that include exterminating, starving and enslaving its population.
It also strongly criticised its denial of basic freedoms of thought, expression and religion, and its abduction of citizens of neighbouring South Korea and Japan.
The report was written by the Commission of Inquiry on North Korea set up in March 2013 by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Harf said the report "reflects the international community's consensus view that the human rights situation in the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is among the world's worst."
"We urge the DPRK to take concrete steps -- as recommended by the (Commission of Inquiry) -- to improve the human rights situation for the North Korean people," she added.
