NEW YORK

Russia and China on Thursday failed to prevent a UN Security Council meeting on the human rights situation in North Korea.

In a procedural vote on whether to hold the meeting, nine council members -- the U.S., Britain, France, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain -- voted in favor of convening the session.

Thursday's meeting was the second formal council meeting on the issue, following its decision last year to add the situation in North Korea to its agenda as a separate item.

Nigeria and Chad abstained from the procedural vote, while Russia, China, Venezuela and Angola opposed the session.

Nine votes are required to win a procedural vote, in which a negative vote cast by any of the five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. -- does not invalidate a decision, unlike resolutions.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called on the council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court, citing gross human rights violations, "the institutional nature and severity of which pose a threat to international peace and security".

Last year, the 193-nation UN General Assembly appealed to the Security Council to refer the reclusive country to the Hague-based tribunal to face charges of crimes against humanity. The 15-member council alone has the power to make such a referral.

The move followed a UN Commission of Inquiry report that said "the gravity, scale and nature of the violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world".

"The continuing violations and systemic failings simply heighten international anxieties over the possibility of a precipitous turn, an event of great centrifugal consequence which could rapidly engulf the region," Zeid said.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman also said that the world community failed to find an effective way to address the rights violations in North Korea.

"The international community has a collective responsibility to protect the population of the DPRK, and to consider the wider implications of the reported grave human rights situation for the stability of the region," he added.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said the Security Council’s discussion was a "a step in the right direction".

"Of course, Russia and China will not easily abandon their opposition. But the UN Security Council’s regular debate of the human rights abuses in North Korea as a threat to international peace and security raises the political cost of inaction," the watchdog said in a press release.

"And the council’s regular engagement sends a clear message to Pyongyang that its deplorable abuses should end," it added.