The U.N. Security Council held a meeting on North Korea's human rights situation on Thursday, the second time the issue has been discussed at the top global security body after the first such meeting last year.

The meeting took place after a proposal for the meeting was passed in a 9-4 vote with two abstentions.

Last year, the Security Council held its first-ever meeting on the North's human rights issue after the adoption of a landmark U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for referring the communist nation to the International Criminal Court.

A similar resolution has been proposed this year, passed the Third Committee last month and is expected to be formally adopted at the General Assembly later this month. This year's measure also calls for referring the issue to the ICC.

The resolution and Thursday's Security Council meeting underscored the seriousness the international community attaches to the problem, and is expected to increase pressure on Pyongyang.

The United States presided over Thursday's meeting as it has the presidency of the Council for December.

"Once again this year, the General Assembly may call on the Security Council to take action by referring the situation in the DPRK to the International Criminal Court, which I believe to be essential given the scale and extreme gravity of the allegations," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told the meeting.

Zeid also said that any call for accountability must "go hand-in-hand with an open dialogue" with the North.

China, the North's last-remaining major ally and a permanent member of the Council, had opposed convening Thursday's meeting, forcing Council President and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power to hold a vote. Beijing claimed that it is not appropriate for the Council to discuss the human rights situation of a specific country.

Despite calls for the North's referral to the ICC, however, it is unlikely that the Security Council will actually be able to refer the matter to the ICC because China and Russia, which have friendlier ties with North Korea than any other countries, are expected to veto such a move.

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 U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.

In June, the State Department said in its annual human rights report that the North's human rights record "remained among the worst in the world" last year with public executions, political prison camps, torture and other abuses. (Yonhap)