North Korea Threatens Counteraction Over US Human Trafficking Report
Pyongyang condemned Washington’s latest human trafficking assessment after North Korea remained in the lowest tier, rejecting allegations of state-sponsored forced labor and political repression.
North Korea denounced the United States’ latest assessment of global human trafficking and warned of a forceful response, escalating a long-running dispute over human rights and Washington’s scrutiny of Pyongyang.
A spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry called the US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report a politically motivated provocation. In an English-language statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the spokesperson rejected the report as based on falsehoods, prejudice and hostility.
The annual US report placed North Korea in Tier 3, its lowest classification for governments judged not to be fully meeting minimum standards for eliminating trafficking and not making significant efforts to do so. China, Russia, Iran and Cuba were also listed in the same tier.
Pyongyang argued that Washington was politicizing human rights and using the issue as an instrument of hostile policy. The foreign ministry spokesperson said US pressure over North Korean human rights threatened the country’s sovereignty and the interests of its citizens, adding that such actions would face the North’s toughest counteraction alongside other acts it considers hostile. The statement did not specify what measures North Korea might take.
The State Department’s report alleged that North Korea maintains a government policy or pattern of human trafficking linked to political prison camps and labor training centers. It characterized forced labor as part of a broader system of political repression.
The report also said revenue generated through state-sponsored forced labor was used to support government operations. It alleged that many North Koreans sent to work abroad faced excessive hours, hazardous conditions in some cases and restrictions on access to their passports.
North Korea’s response underscores the sharp divide between Pyongyang and Washington over international human rights assessments. The North routinely rejects outside criticism of its rights record as interference in its internal affairs and as evidence of a broader effort to weaken its government.
The latest exchange adds human rights to a wider set of disputes complicating relations between the two countries. While the foreign ministry’s language signaled that Pyongyang views the report as more than a routine diplomatic criticism, its statement offered no timetable or details for the threatened response.