Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - North Korea's foreign ministry called a new UN human rights expert "biassed" and said the c...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - North Korea's foreign ministry called a new UN human rights expert "biassed" and said the country would not stand for what it called U.S.-led efforts to overthrow the isolated regime. This was reported on Friday by North Korea's state news agency, KCNA.
Elizabeth Salmon is the new U.N. expert on human rights in North Korea. This is her first official trip to South Korea since she started her job last month. Salmon said in her first speech that the human rights situation in the North has gotten worse after two years of strict measures to stop COVID-19.
"We had already made it clear that we won't deal with or recognise any "special rapporteur" who is just a puppet of the U.S.," KCNA quoted an unnamed Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson as saying.
Pyongyang has repeatedly denied that it does bad things to people's rights, and it has called U.N. investigations into the matter a plan by the U.S. to meddle in its internal affairs.
The official said, using the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, "The DPRK will never pardon the U.S. and its vassal forces' 'human rights' racket against the DPRK, which is meant to overthrow its social system" (DPRK).
In a separate recent U.N. report, it was also said that North Korea's efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus have made the country's human rights violations worse. For example, the country has made it harder to get information, tightened security at its borders, and increased digital surveillance.
Later on Friday, Salmon was going to hold a news conference.
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