North Korea’s foreign ministry attacked the now-defunct Hong Kong news outlet Apple Daily in a statement on Monday, showing support for the Chinese Communist Party’s recent controversial actions in the city and accusing “western countries” of meddling in China’s affairs.

In the statement, the ministry said the independent newspaper Apple Daily “was in the forefront of instigating reckless disturbances by misleading the public in Hong Kong” and that action against any “individual company suspected of disrupting the national security is a legitimate measure to combat crime.”

Apple Daily was one of the