North Korea has rejected a slew of recommendations made by the United Nations for improving its "appalling" human rights record, saying that these were intended to weaken the country's government and dent its image.
Pyongyang's representative to the U.N. Ri Chol Thursday made the remarks at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva convened to review the North's human rights situation and draft a report.
The recommendations made in December included a moratorium on awarding the death penalty and an end to public executions, torture and other inhumane forms of punishment, forced labor and military training for children.
Besides, North Korea was asked to allow a U.N. human rights envoy to visit the country to have a first-hand look at the ground realities there.
According to Ri, the UN's actions were the result of a deeply ingrained sense of animosity toward North Korea adding North did not recognise the U.N. human rights envoy.
However, he was less forthcoming on Pyongyang's response to the 117 recommendations which included improving the human rights of the socially weak, joining international human rights pacts and allowing reunions of families separated by the Korean War.
The U.S., South Korea, Japan and France have expressed their disappointment over the stance adopted by North Korea which has one of the "most repressive regimes" in the world with several political dissidents held at various jails in that country.
In all, the UNHRC had made 167 recommendations with the North outrightly rejecting 50 of them.
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