NK statement-UNSC meeting

N. Korea warns of 'toughest counteraction' against UNSC meeting on country's rights abuse

SEOUL, March 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday slammed a move by the United States to hold an informal U.N. Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Pyongyang's human rights abuse this week, calling it a scheme to "bring down" its regime.

In a statement issued by the North's foreign ministry, Pyongyang said it "bitterly denounces the U.S. vicious 'human rights' racket" as the "most intensive expression of its hostile policy" toward Pyongyang.

The statement came after Reuters reported last week that the U.S. will hold an informal meeting of UNSC members on the North's human rights abuses this Friday (local time).

The North "solemnly declares once again that it will take the toughest counteraction against the most vicious hostile plots of the U.S.," the ministry said in the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

"Timed to coincide with the large-scale U.S.-South Korean war exercises to be launched on March 13, the U.S., together with its followers, is scheming to coercively call an informal UN Security Council meeting to discuss the non-existent 'human rights issue' of the DPRK," it added.

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The North has long been accused of grave human rights abuses, ranging from holding political prisoners in concentration camps to committing torture and carrying out public executions.

The upcoming meeting comes as Pyongyang has escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula recently with a barrage of weapons tests, including submarine-launched cruise missile tests on Sunday, in apparent protest against the allies' major Freedom Shield exercise.

[https://youtu.be/4OGfuliEvQo]

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]