Japan and the European Union on Monday tabled to a U.N. General Assembly panel a draft resolution denouncing widespread violations of human rights in North Korea.
More than 40 countries, including the United States and South Korea, co-sponsored the motion at the time of its submission to the assembly's Third Committee on Social and Humanitarian Issues.
Its adoption, possibly in mid-November, would represent the 12th year in a row for a resolution on this theme to be endorsed by the U.N.
The draft expresses "grave concern" over the impact from North Korean diverting resources to its nuclear and missile development programs at the expense of human rights.
It encourages the U.N. Security Council to seek greater accountability for those responsible for carrying out human rights abuses in the isolated country.
The draft takes note of the "lack of positive action" by North Korea since it agreed with Tokyo in May 2014 to reinvestigate the fate of all Japanese abductees, including those kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s.