N. Korea criticizes US for human rights violations

With North Korea’s top diplomat scheduled to visit the United States this month, the North on Wednesday stated that it believes the U.S. government is violating the human rights of American citizens.

Ri Su-yong, the North’s foreign minister, plans to attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting slated later this month in New York.

There is speculation that minister Ri will counter criticism about North Korea’s human rights issues at the meeting.

Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the North Korean Workers’ Party, said that the U.S. does not have any right to lecture others on human rights.

The paper referred to a white police officer’s recent fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. Also mentioning frequent gun-related crimes, and the gap between the rich and poor in the U.S., Rodong Sinmun described the U.S. as “the nation of human rights violations.”

“A perfect seat for the U.S. in the International Court of Human Rights is that of defendant,” said the newspaper. The U.S. taking issue with alleged violations of human rights in other nations, including North Korea, is a form of imperialism, the paper said.

“The U.S. can’t interfere with us about human rights criticism,” said the newspaper.

Meanwhile, Kang Sok-ju, secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party, is scheduled to travel to Europe this week, as part of an apparent effort by the North to break out of its international isolation.