N. Korea blasts U.N. human rights resolution as 'grave infringement' on sovereignty

SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday blasted a recent United Nations resolution condemning Pyongyang's human rights abuses, calling it "a product of illegal and inhuman hostile policy" of Washington against the communist nation.

The U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed the resolution for the 20th consecutive year on Friday. The resolution condemned the North's continued rights violations and highlighted worsening humanitarian conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

North Korea's foreign ministry issued a statement on Sunday to reject the resolution, condemning it as "a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our state and a political provocation against it."

"As the fair and impartial international society recognize, the anti-DPRK human rights resolution put forward by the U.S. and the Western countries every year does not bear any relation to genuine human rights," read the ministry's English-language statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"And it is no more than a highly politicized means of hostility to tarnish the dignified image of the DPRK and to deny the genuine rights and interests of the Korean people," the statement also read.

The ministry also said institutional human rights violations, such as racial discrimination and violence against women, are rampant in the U.S. and other Western states, and added it was hypocritical of them to pose as "human rights judges" on North Korea.

"The DPRK will show zero tolerance for hostile acts by the U.S. and its followers," the ministry added. "And it will do its level best to safeguard our socialist system and the genuine people's rights which our people value as their life."
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