North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has denounced a new U.N. report on human rights abuses in the country, accusing U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres of following “hostile forces” that distort the facts about its record.

In a statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Friday, a ministry spokesperson condemned the report as a collection of “vicious criticism and smear propaganda” against Pyongyang.

“For us, human rights are just national rights and absolute sovereignty never to be surrendered in any case,” the statement said.

The ministry condemned what it described as hostile forces turning the “sacred U.N.