N. Korea accuses West of abusing human rights in white paper

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gives a speech during a meeting of ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang in this file photo. Yonhap

North Korea on Monday accused the West of violating human rights while dismissing international criticism of its dire human rights conditions as it published a white paper on the issue.

Pyongyang made the accusation as it announced the publication of a white paper on human rights to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations.

"The dignity and rights of human being mentioned by the declaration are now ruthlessly being violated in the U.S. and other Western countries where all sorts of social evils... are rampant," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing the white paper published by the Association for Human Rights Studies.

The KCNA said North Korean residents, on the other hand, are fully enjoying their human rights as the regime is fulfilling its responsibility in the field of international human rights.

It accused the U.S. of attempting to topple the regime through the "trite method" of taking issues with its human rights conditions, adding that human rights can be "realized only when the sovereignty is thoroughly defended." (Yonhap)