N. Korea slams U.N. report on its human rights as ‘fabricated’ document

SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) — North Korea on Monday condemned a recent United Nations report on the North’s human rights abuses as a document “fabricating and distorting” Pyongyang’s rights situation.

In a U.N. report on an update on North Korea’s human rights situation, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres recommended North Korea investigate, prosecute and bring to justice those accused of having committed human rights violations. The report will be submitted to the U.N. General Assembly.

Kim Son-gyong, vice foreign minister of North Korea, said the enemy forces fabricated the report in a bid to slander the North and tarnish its image, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“I severely condemn the enemy forces’ move to slander our country’s dignity and system in the name of the U.N. as a political provocation and an act of violating a sovereignty that we cannot tolerate,” Kim said.

Kim said the U.N. should first take issue with Washington’s human rights abuses before denouncing the North’s human rights problems that do not even exist, claiming that rampant hate crimes and other inhumane acts have been committed in the United States.

North Korea has long bristled at outside criticism of its human rights abuses, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.