UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the commission of inquiry that accused North Korea of crimes against humanity told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that it must take action against "a totalitarian state without parallel in the contemporary world," and he told reporters that most council members "expressly said" the matter should be referred to the International Criminal Court. Economic sanctions or a halt to humanitarian aid would harm ordinary citizens, he said. "The gravity, scale, duration and nature of human rights violations that we found reveal a totalitarian state without parallel in the contemporary world," Kirby, a retired Australian judge, said. The deputy British ambassador to the U.N., Peter Wilson, told the meeting that his country supports the call for the council to "consider appropriate action including referral of situation in #DPRK to #ICC," his mission tweeted. Kirby accused representatives of North Korea of urging member states not to attend the meeting and called the regime a country that seeks to protect itself from scrutiny by closing itself off from the world.