N. Korea calls UN monitor on its rights issue ‘puppet’ of US

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has called the U.N.’s top expert on the country’s human rights “a puppet” of the United States. The North’s Foreign Ministry warned Friday that it won’t tolerate an American-led plot to use the rights issue to overthrow its political system. Its comments come as Elizabeth Salmón, the U.N. rapporteur on the North’s human rights, is making her first visit to South Korea this week to meet officials, activists and North Korean defectors since her appointment last month. Salmón said North Koreans face “new and more serious hardships” because of severe pandemic-related curbs. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing Salmón of displaying “ignorance and biased vision.”