North Korea has halted talks with the main sponsor of a UN resolution urging the country’s referral to the international criminal court for crimes against humanity, after months of attempts to win over key supporters of the draft.

In a statement dated 30 October and given to UN states, North Korea’s UN mission said it had suspended talks with the EU on the resolution.

A UN inquiry concluded in February that North Korean security chiefs and possibly even the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings.

“Although we are not opposed to the dialogue and cooperation for promotion and protection of genuine human rights, we will strongly respond to any attempt to continuously abuse the human rights issues in sabotaging our system, to the last ditch,” North Korea’s UN mission said in its statement.

As of 31 October it suspended overall consultations with the EU on the resolution, which has 50 co-sponsors, and warned that those supporting the move “will have to take full responsibilities for all the consequences”.

The resolution drafted by the EU and Japan, which does not name Kim, is likely to be adopted by a UN general assembly committee that deals with human rights as early as next week. It will be put to a vote for approval by the general assembly next month and is expected to pass. The measure would then go to the 15-member security council, where diplomats say China, North Korea’s main benefactor, would probably veto it.

North Korean diplomats have sought to sway their UN counterparts with their own lengthy human rights report and a proposal for wording in the resolution that would praise Pyongyang’s record.

North Korean diplomats also recently met the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, for the first time and signalled that they could allow him to visit Pyongyang if references to the criminal court were removed from the draft.

In addition, they told UN member states they would consider receiving technical assistance from the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights and have rights dialogue with the EU.

“We’re not prepared to make those sorts of deals,” said a senior UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

North Korean officials also recently visited Europe and Africa – trips seen as seeking diplomatic support for Pyongyang’s efforts over the resolution.