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 Practicespublished recently by the U.S. State Department, and warned the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. in the statement.

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

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