North Korea has strongly criticized a recent high-level UN General Assembly meeting on the country’s human rights situation, calling it a case of “politically motivated provocation.”

A spokesperson for the Korea Association for Human Rights Studies issued the criticism in a statement carried by the North’s state Korean Central News Agency on Friday.

In the statement, the spokesperson said the association denounces the meeting as a wanton contravention of the UN Charter and international law, which stipulate respect for sovereignty and noninterference in internal affairs, calling it a grave violation of the dignity and sovereignty of North Korea.

The association accused the U.S., South Korea and other countries of engaging in a “heinous smear campaign.”

It also denounced the North Korean defectors who spoke at the UN meeting as a “handful of human scum.”