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North Korea has announced it will no longer take part in UN Human Rights Council session examining its rights record.

Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong accused the council of “politicization, selectivity and double standards” and of “singling out” North Korea for criticism.

The UN council has repeatedly criticized North Korea over its treatment of its citizens.

The move is likely to further isolate North Korea, which is due to face new sanctions.Ri Su-yong UN human rights council

The UN Security Council is set to vote on March 2 on the new measures, in response to North Korea’s fourth test of a nuclear weapon and its launching of a satellite.

Both moves contravened existing sanctions.

In his statement to the Council, Ri Su-yong also accused the US and others of paying “so-called North Korean defectors” for their testimony.

He said North Korea would “never, ever be bound” by any resolution adopted by the Council.

A UN report in 2014 accused North Korea of “systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights”, including disappearances, forced labor, torture, rape and infanticide.

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According to a UN investigator’s report, as many as 50,000 North Koreans have been sent abroad to work in conditions that amount to “forced labor”.

Marzuki Darusman said workers earn very little, are underfed and are sometimes forced to work up to 20-hour days.

The special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea also said in his report that employers pay “significantly higher amounts” directly to the North Korean government.North Korean workers in forced labor abroad

The majority of the workers are in China and Russia, mainly in the mining, textile and construction industries.

Marzuki Darusman also listed countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

He said the companies who hire North Korean workers “become complicit in an unacceptable system of forced labor”.

The workers are providing a source of hard currency to a country in a “really tight financial and economic situation”.

Marzuki Darusman estimated that North Korea was earning $1.2 billion-$2.3 billion from the foreign worker system every year.

Since 2006, North Korea has been under international sanction for its nuclear weapons tests resulting in a shortage of foreign currency.

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