Washington human rights report condemned

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK, on Saturday denounced a human rights report by the United States as "malignant slander" against the country.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, a spokesman for the DPRK foreign ministry lashed out at the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published recently by the US State Department, and warned the US to stop what it called its illegal interference in the sovereignty and internal affairs of the DPRK.

Calling it "full of lies, fabrications, prejudice and hostility", the statement said the human rights report has nothing to do with ensuring genuine human rights, but is a move by the US to "collect data necessary for tarnishing the image of other countries incurring its displeasure and for justifying its interference in their internal affairs and scheme to bring down their social systems", according to KCNA.

The spokesman cited a special envoy on human rights in the administration of US President Joe Biden. The envoy, Julie Turner, visited Seoul and Tokyo in February to discuss the DPRK.

The DPRK also fought back at the "horrible" human rights situation in the US in the statement.

The US is fostering massacres of innocent civilians through its overseas military aid to the tune of tens of billions of US dollars, the statement said.

Serious human rights abuses are also rampant in the US, the statement said, citing as evidence the US practices of institutional suppression of citizens, and fomentation of confrontations between nations, races and religions.