North Korea tells EU to 'mind its own business' on human rights

North Korea's UN mission has lashed out at the European Union over a draft UN resolution. Pyongyang has said the West does not have a monopoly on human rights.

North Korea , responded European Union's draft United Nations resolution on human rights in the country by telling the bloc to "mind its own business," state media reported Thursday. North Korea's UN mission said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency that the move was a "farce" and a "politically motivated provocation." It said the resolution is "flagrantly distorting it's human rights policy," claiming that human rights are not "a monopoly of the West." Referring to the protests in Europe , "Streets are filled with demonstrators from all walks of life demanding such elementary rights as the rights to existence," the North Korean mission said.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights violations every year since 2005. It is the fifth consecutive year that Seoul has done so, following a break from 2019 to 2021 under the liberal Moon Jae-in government.