Pyongyang has criticized the United States Congress for submitting a bill aimed at spreading democracy and freedom around the world, calling it illegal interference in North Korean internal affairs.

The Advance Democracy Act 2005, a bilaterally-sponsored bill, was submitted to U.S. Congress last week amid a growing American offensive on the communist country's dismal human rights record.

North Korea's Central Broadcasting Station accused the United States on Monday of scheming to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of propagating democracy and freedom.

The state-run media said the bill openly justifies America's interference in other countries' internal affairs and aims to overthrow their regimes.

The harsh remarks are the first response of the communist country to the bill, which, if passed, would likely serve as a backbone for U.S. President George W. Bush's stated policy of spreading democracy and freedom to what he described as "the darkest corners" of the world.

In a separate human rights report released last week, the U.S. State Department described North Korea as a "dictatorship" where people have no rights to change their government and are subject to torture and extrajudicial killings.