North Korea yesterday rejected the findings of a UN panel, which accused the state of crimes against humanity that evoked Nazi-era atrocities, saying they were based on "lies and fabrications deliberately cooked up by hostile forces and riff-raffs".

North Korean security chiefs and Kim Jong Un should face international prosecution for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings of its people, UN investigators said in a report. It is likely to further antagonise Kim, but those who fled the North expressed scepticism that the report will have any impact.