The U.N. Security Council adopted North Korea's human rights record as an official agenda item for the first time on Monday, a highly symbolic move designed to increase pressure on Pyongyang to improve the treatment of its own people.

The issue was adopted in an 11-2 vote with two abstentions among the 15 council members. China and Russia, which have friendlier relations with North Korea than other countries do, voted against adopting the issue as an official agenda item.

It was the first time that the North's human rights situation has been put on the Security Council's agenda. It was also only the third time that the human rights situation of a country has become an agenda item of the council after that of Zimbabwe in 2005 and Myanmar in 2006.

North Korea could have attended the council meeting to make its case but did not.

The United States welcomed the adoption.

"This is a significant step that will ensure continued council attention to the human rights situation moving forward and demonstrates, really, the concern of the international community,"

State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a regular press briefing, shortly before the U.N. meeting.

Seoul's foreign ministry also hailed the decision, calling on Pyongyang to take necessary steps to improve its human rights situation.

"The adoption of the issue indicates concerns that North Korea's dismal human rights record has grave effects on peace and security in Northeast Asia and the international community," Noh Kwang-il, spokesman at the foreign ministry, said in a statement.

"We expect the Security Council to have in-depth discussion over the U.N. General Assembly's recommendations on accountability for the North's alleged human rights violations and how to improve it," he added.

Monday's Security Council session came days after the U.N. General Assembly formally adopted a landmark resolution calling for referring the North to the International Criminal Court for human rights violations.

The resolution was highly meaningful in that it was the first time that the U.N. General Assembly has called for the North's referral to the ICC, though chances of actual referral are slim because China and Russia are sure to veto such a move.

The North has protested strongly against the resolution, threatening a nuclear test in response.

Pyongyang has long been labeled as one of the worst human rights violators in the world. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.

But the North has bristled at such criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.

The North's human rights problem has drawn greater international attention this year after the U.N. Commission of Inquiry issued a report in February saying North Korean leaders are responsible for "widespread, systematic and gross" violations of human rights.

The report also said the ICC should handle North Korea's "crimes against humanity." (Yonhap)