By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States will&nbsp;hold&nbsp;an informal&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;of United Nations Security Council members next week on human&nbsp;rights&nbsp;abuses&nbsp;in&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea, a move likely to anger Pyongyang and spur opposition from China and Russia.
"The DPRK's human&nbsp;rights&nbsp;violations and&nbsp;abuses&nbsp;threaten international peace and security and are directly linked to the country's unlawful weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs," the United States and Albania said in a note - seen by Reuters - promoting next Friday's&nbsp;meeting.
Albania is currently an elected member of the Security Council and is co-hosting the&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;with the United States.
The 15-member Security Council has regularly discussed human&nbsp;rights&nbsp;in&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of&nbsp;Korea, since 2014. But China and Russia object to the issue being raised in the council.
Pyongyang rejects accusations of human&nbsp;rights&nbsp;abuses&nbsp;and blames sanctions for a dire humanitarian situation in&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea. The country has been under&nbsp;U.N. sanctions over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs since 2006.
North&nbsp;Korea's&nbsp;U.N. mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on next week's&nbsp;meeting.
The aim of the informal&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;is to spotlight&nbsp;rights&nbsp;abuses&nbsp;and "identify opportunities for the international community to promote accountability," according to the&nbsp;U.S. and Albanian note.
They said that during the COVID-19 pandemic&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean leader Kim Jong Un's government responded with "further isolation and repression, including shoot-to-kill orders."
"The DPRK government has increased efforts to suppress fundamental freedoms and the free flow of information, with reports of thousands of new arrests and harsh imprisonments. Today, a total of 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are reported to be in prison in the DPRK ," according to the note.
The&nbsp;meeting&nbsp;comes amid heightened international tensions. Kim Yo Jong, Kim's powerful sister, has threatened to turn&nbsp;the Pacific Ocean into a "firing range" and warned that any move to shoot down&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea's test missiles would be a declaration of war.
Pyongyang has launched dozens of ballistic missiles in the past year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles. But China and Russia oppose any further action by the Security Council, arguing that putting further pressure on&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;would not be constructive. The pair vetoed a&nbsp;U.S.-led push to impose more&nbsp;U.N. sanctions on&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;in May last year.
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(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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U.S. to hold meeting at U.N. on North Korea rights abuses