North Korea has denounced the U.S. State Department’s report on human rights in the Stalinist state and has vowed to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman issued a statement Monday night that said continued harping by Washington on the North's human rights issue would only strengthen the measures Pyongyang would take to safeguard its sovereignty.

The statement censured the U.S. report as a foul political move aimed at isolating and crushing the North Korean regime by interfering in its internal affairs.

It went on to say that the United States was the world’s worst violator of human rights and should not presume to speak of human rights conditions in other nations.

Released on Wednesday, the U.S. report deemed human rights conditions in the North to be extremely poor, citing the conditions allegedly suffered by North Korean escapees and the existence of detention camps for political prisoners.