SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Saturday denounced a human rights report by the United States as "malignant slander" against the country.

In a press statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a spokesman for the DPRK foreign ministry lashed out at the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released recently by the US State Department, and warned the United States to stop its illegal interference in the sovereignty and internal affairs of the DPRK.

The DPRK also fought back in the statement at the "horrible" human rights situation in the United States

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Calling it "full of lies, fabrications, prejudice and hostility," the statement said the human rights report has nothing to do with ensuring genuine human rights, but is a move by the United States to "collect data necessary for tarnishing the image of other countries incurring its displeasure and for justifying its interference in their internal affairs and scheme to bring down their social systems," according to the KCNA.

The DPRK also fought back in the statement at the "horrible" human rights situation in the United States.

The United States is fostering massacres of innocent civilians through its overseas military aid to the tune of tens of billions of US dollars, the statement said.

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Serious human rights abuses are also rampant in the United States, the statement said, citing as its proof the US practices of institutional suppression of citizens, fomentation of confrontations between nations, races and religions as well as all kinds of crimes of violence and maltreatment of immigrants.