The Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman assailed the United States for recently pulling up his country over the drug issue.

The U.S. State Department, in an annual report on drug control released March 1, hinted that North Korea (DPRK) may be manufacturing and smuggling drugs into other countries and said it will "keep tabs on" the DPRK, while admitting lack of clear evidence.

The spokesman was quoted as saying that this is a groundless charge and shameless provocation against the DPRK.

He claimed that the use and transaction of drugs, to say nothing of their manufacture, are strictly banned by law under the "man-centered socialist system in the DPRK where a sound way of life prevails."