North Korea Criticizes UN Human Rights Meeting

(MENAFN- QNA) North Korea strongly protested criticisms over its human rights situation made during a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Ja Song-nam, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, told reporters in New York that the United States is lying about the human rights situation in the North.

Calling the latest criticisms as "human rights hubbub," the North Korean diplomat argued the US refused the North's request to attend the ministerial meeting because it is distorting the human rights situation in North Korea, according to Korea's (KBS WORLD) website.

At the ministerial meeting held early, US Secretary of State John Kerry referred to the political prison camps in the North as an "evil system," and urged the North Korean regime to shut them down.

Ja was also skeptical about the possibility of a meeting between foreign chiefs of North Korea and the US during the UN General Assembly. He said the US would not have made such a harsh criticism against the North if it had had any intention of meeting with the North.

North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong is attending the UN General Assembly.