N. Korea Is Target of U.N. Warning

In a strong signal to North Korea, a United Nations rights committee said Thursday that no country can pull out of a key international treaty guaranteeing citizens civil and political rights.

U.N. sources said the aim was twofold: to put on record that 23 million North Koreans are still under the protection of the landmark pact and to warn other states not to follow suit.

A Pyongyang diplomat announced in August that North Korea was pulling out of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights--the first state to announce its withdrawal.

But the U.N. Human Rights Committee said in a statement: “The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not contain any provision regarding its termination and does not provide for denunciation or withdrawal.”