Voice of America reported Saturday that North Korea has been elected a new member of the World Health Organization's executive board.

According to the report, during a session of the World Health Assembly, the WHO's decision-making body, held in Geneva Friday, all ten members recommended by the general committee were elected to the board by a vote.

The other nine countries include Australia, Barbados, Cameroon, Qatar, Switzerland, Ukraine and Togo.

The election came as the three-year term of ten of the board's 34 members expires this year including South Korea's.

Previously, North Korea was elected to the WHO board in 1989, 2000 and 2013.

Following the vote, a representative of the United States expressed concern that the government of one of the new board members, North Korea, does not share common values and the country has an appalling record of human rights violations and abuses that have been regularly documented by UN bodies and widely condemned by the international community. 

The official said Pyongyang's continued development of its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions and the U.S. takes this opportunity to reinforce the expectation of members of the Executive Board and calls on the North Korean government to respect human rights, fulfill its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions and engage in serious and sustained diplomacy.

Following the criticism, a North Korean representative spoke out, expressing regret over the U.S. raising an issue irrelevant to the meeting's agenda and misusing the forum to advance its own political aim.