North Korea denounced a joint statement by a group of countries monitoring sanctions enforcement against Pyongyang as a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty,” saying it was born out of hostility by the US and the West, the state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

“Sanctions and pressure may work on the weak but never on us,” an unnamed foreign ministry spokesperson told KCNA, saying “the stereotyped sanctions racket of the US and the West” could not influence the position of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a nuclear weapons state.