Pyongyang, Feb 22 (IANS): North Korea has denounced a UN report on its human rights as "sheer lies" and "politically-motivated provocation".

A spokesman of the North Korean foreign ministry, who responded to questions raised by the official news agency KCNA regarding the issue, Friday said Pyongyang categorically rejected the "biased report" which "is peppered with sheer lies and fabrications deliberately cooked up by hostile forces", Xinhua reported.

The spokesman refuted the "far-fetched assertions" that the human rights situation in the country should be referred to the International Criminal Court as "an extremely dangerous politically-motivated provocation" aimed to bring down North Korea's social system.

The report, published Monday by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights, listed crimes against humanity committed in the country, including murder, torture, rape, enslavement, starvation and executions.

The North Korean spokesman also accused the US of being the worst human rights abuser, "who killed innocent people through aggression and intervention, and systematically committed illegal wire-tapping and surveillance against citizens of other countries", and should be brought to an international human rights tribunal.