Coinciding with the start of those exercises on March 13, the United States and its allies coercively convened a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council to consider the non-existent issue of human rights violations in the DPRK, a Foreign Ministry statement denounced.

It is a proven event that Washington has long abused of the “human rights issue” as a tool for intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign States to force power changes in those countries, the text noted.

Such maneuvers have nothing to do with ensuring genuine human rights and are nothing more than a hostile and politicized resource to denigrate the DPRK and undermine the rights and interests of the Korean people, the Foreign Ministry stated.

The DPRK reiterates that it will take a stronger stand to defend the sovereignty, rights, and interests of the DPRK in response to the vicious and intriguing maneuvers of the United States and its allies. jrr/iff/npg/asg