SEOUL: North Korea, one of the world's most repressive societies, branded the United States a "kingpin" of human rights abuses on Tuesday, following revelations of the US government's Internet surveillance programme.
A bylined commentary in the government's official Minju Joson newspaper said US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden had exposed the global nature of the NSA's intrusive monitoring activities.
"This clearly proves once again that the US is a kingpin of human rights abuses as it put the world under its watch network and has conducted espionage against mankind," said the commentary as reported by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea is widely recognised as one of the most world's most tightly-controlled societies where daily life is monitored and regulated at almost every level.
Washington has repeatedly sought to censure Pyongyang over its human rights record in fora like the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The Minju Joson commentary argued that Snowden's revelations had exposed the hypocrisy of the US position and said Washington would have to reflect before mentioning "such sacred words as human rights" in the future.
The article echoed criticism in the official Chinese media China's official army newspaper on Sunday branded the US National Security Agency's surveillance programme as "frightening", and accused the US of being a "habitual offender" when it comes to network monitoring.
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