UN sanctions 'suffocating' North Korean people

North Korea's United Nations mission on Monday slammed the UN and U.S. for the strict sanctions imposed on the country due to its nuclear weapons program.

In a written statement, the mission called the sanctions "despicable" and "criminal", saying they are "suffocating" people's livelihood and public health in North Korea.

According to the mission, such "illegal" sanctions threaten the exercise of human rights of the North Korean people.

Blaming the U.S. government, the statement said:

"This clearly proves that the U.N. Security Council, overpowered by high-handedness and arbitrariness of the U.S., has only turned into the tool of infringement on people's rights and barbarous state sponsoredterrorism."

North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons program accelerated in 2016, and the country has been subjected to sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006.

Washington has repeatedly made its position clear that the North's authoritarian regime must first abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions if it wants talks with the U.S. on ending sanctions.