A senior North Korean diplomat blasted the European Union for criticizing the destruction of the inter-Korean liaison office by North Korea.

North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister for Europe Kim Son-gyong said in a statement on Wednesday that the country feels pitiful rather than enraged when it sees how the EU criticizes the North whenever it gets a chance.  

Kim then urged the EU to listen to North Korea experts in Europe calling for a swift revision to the EU's North Korea policy. 

The vice minister said the EU should criticize and ask South Korean authorities to punish defectors for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets and ridiculing North Koreans, rather than blaming North Korea. 

The European External Action Service on Wednesday expressed strong regret over the North's recent provocation, calling it "unacceptable." It also warned Pyongyang against taking further "provocative and damaging steps."

[Photo : YONHAP News]