North Korea asked the European Union to soften its resolution on human rights violations in the North, sources said Sunday, as the international community steps up pressure on the communist regime.

North Korea is accused of gross human rights violations that include holding hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in concentration camps and conducting public executions.

Pyongyang, however, has dismissed the accusations as a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.

The EU's draft resolution reportedly calls for the referral of North Korea's human rights situation to an international judiciary.

In response, Kang Sok-ju, a secretary of the North's ruling Workers' Party who handles international affairs, asked Stavros Lambrinidis, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, during their meeting in Belgium early last month to soften the resolution, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

If the EU accepts the request, Pyongyang would be willing to resume bilateral talks on its human rights conditions, Kang was quoted as saying.

EU officials stressed the gravity of the North's human rights violations and urged the communist nation to improve its human rights situation, the sources said. (Yonhap)