BEIJING, Dec. 19 -- China has underscored its disapproval of using human rights issues to pressure other countries, following a UN General Assembly resolution proposing that the human rights issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

China has always advocated the resolution of differences in the field of human rights through dialogue and cooperation and opposed the politicizing of human rights issues, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Friday.

The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday voted in favor of referring the DPRK to the ICC in a resolution initiated by the European Union and Japan.

China was among the countries that voted against the resolution.

"The UN Security Council is not the right place to discuss human rights issues, and the referral of human rights issues to the ICC is not conducive to their resolution," Qin said.