ANKARA

North Korea on Sunday joined a growing choir of criticism against the US for vetoing a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution, which called for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, state media reported.

The UNSC voted on the resolution Friday, but it failed to pass after an expected veto by the US, one of the five veto-wielding powers of the 15-member council.

Calling the US a "stumbling block" to international peace and stability, Kim Son-kyong, North Korea's vice foreign minister for international organizations, accused Washington of abusing its veto right, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported.

"I cannot but deplore the fact that the international community's unanimous desire for peace and stability to settle in the Middle East at an early date was mercilessly trampled down again," Kim said in a statement.