Pyongyang says denuclearization meaningless amid confrontation over human rights

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Monday that as the U.S. "human rights racket" gets more intense against the country, the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will completely lose its meaning."

"The U.S. has recently become all the more pronounced in its 'human rights' offensive against the DPRK," an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement released by official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman blamed a few senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel, for "letting loose a string of invectives" against Pyongyang on its human rights record.

He said recent moves taken by the United States have reneged on the Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks signed in 2005 in Beijing, in which both countries agreed to respect each other's sovereignty and exist peacefully together.

"Now that the confrontation between the DPRK and the U.S. over human rights is high on the agenda, any dialogue on the nuclear issue is meaningless," the spokesman said, diminishing the possibility of resumption of the Six-Party talks.

In the statement, the spokesman also warned of "the toughest counteraction of the DPRK" over U.S. anti-Pyongyang policy, saying that the United States would be fully accountable for the derailment of the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.