Pyongyang: North Korea on Thursday condemned a recent United Nations resolution on human rights violations in the country, calling it a "grave political provocation."

According to Yonhap News Agency, the reaction came after the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council adopted its annual resolution on Pyongyang's human rights by consensus Monday at its 61st regular session. The resolution was co-sponsored by 50 countries, including South Korea.

"(Our) foreign ministry regards the act of adopting a human rights resolution against our republic as a grave political provocation against our national dignity and sovereignty and condemns it with the strongest language," the ministry spokesperson said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency. The statement argued that the U.N. human rights review system targeting individual states constitutes an act of hostility that runs counter to the U.N. Charter's principle of non-intervention in internal affairs.

The statement further criticized the long-standing practice of adopting human rights resolutions against North Korea, describing it as an indicator of the U.N. human rights stage being affected by politicization, selectiveness, and double standards.

The North Korean foreign ministry warned that the actions of countries involved in criticizing North Korea's national and social institutions would be considered. It also mentioned the targeting and killing of children needing special protection by precision-guided weapons, referring to a U.S. attack that led to the deaths of nearly 200 students and teachers at a school in Iran, in what appeared to be an attempt to redirect criticism.