N. Korea raps U.N. human rights report

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 14 (UPI) -- North Korea says a special U.N. report on its human rights abuses is not true.

The U.N. report presented in Geneva by envoy Vitit Muntarbhorn pointed to North Korea's "appalling" prison conditions and "extensive use of torture and public executions," Yonhap news agency reported.

In response, North Korean Foreign Ministry official Kim Yong-ho was quoted as saying, "Nowhere in the report exists truth."

The official said the U.N. report was a product of "the most explicit and extreme political offensives" and "double standards."

Kim also accused the envoy of "serving as a mouthpiece for antagonistic forces."

Separately on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department in its 2007 human rights report once again designated North Korea as one of the world's worst human rights violators.