Public Hearings held in Tokyo by the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Photo: OHCHR

Daily special: UN panel condemns North Korea of crimes against humanity 

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, a UN team said Monday.

A hard-hitting report on the nuclear-armed totalitarian state also strongly criticized its denial of basic freedoms of thought, expression and religion, and its abduction of citizens of neighboring South Korea and Japan.

"Systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, its institutions and officials," said the report by the Commission of Inquiry on North Korea set up in March 2013 by the UN Human Rights Council.

"In many instances, the violations of human rights found by the commission constitute crimes against humanity. These are not mere excesses of the state; they are essential components of a political system that has moved far from the ideals on which it claims to be founded," the report said.

"The gravity, scale and nature of these violations revealed a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world."

Commission chair Michael Kirby said the world could no longer plead ignorance as an excuse for a failure to act.

"At the end of the World War II, so many people said: If only we had known. Now the international community does know," he said.

"There will be no excusing of failure of action because we didn't know."

North Korea refused to cooperate with the investigation, claiming the evidence was "fabricated" by "forces hostile" to the country. The statement also said the report was an "instrument of a political plot aimed at sabotaging the socialist system" and defaming the country.

Kirby wrote to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un - the third ruler of the communist dynasty founded by his grandfather in 1948 - to give him a last chance to put his country's side.

In a January 20 letter, Kirby told Kim he could face justice personally for the crimes committed by the system he runs.

"Any official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea who commits, orders, solicits or aids and abets crimes against humanity incurs criminal responsibility by international law and must be held accountable under that law," Kirby wrote.

Hundreds of North Korean officials are potentially liable for the worst crimes against humanity being committed in the isolated country, according to Kirby.

The 372-page report is the result of a year-long investigation marked by public testimony by defectors.

The report was welcomed by the US, which said it "clearly and unequivocally documents the brutal reality" of North Korea's abuses.

China's Foreign Ministry said submitting human rights issues to international criminal courts does not improve the situation and said differences should be resolved through dialogue.