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Just as U.S. President Donald Trump was preparing to lambast North Korea as "a menace that threatens our world" in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Pyongyang attempted to undercut Trump's "ominous" rhetoric by releasing a white paper that highlights America's "gross" human rights violations and deep inequities, from its failure to "embrace paid maternity leave" to its exorbitant healthcare costs.
"In the U.S. the absolute majority of the working masses, deprived of elementary rights to survival, are hovering in the abyss of nightmare."
--North Korea
"In the U.S. the absolute majority of the working masses, deprived of elementary rights to survival, are hovering in the abyss of nightmare," the report declares, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Officially titled the "White Paper on Human Rights Violations in the U.S. in 2017," the report also highlights other major American social and economic issues, including:
In addition to slamming the broader and long-standing facts of American life that consistently put the U.S. behind other wealthy nations, Pyongyang also took aim at the Trump administration, which it characterized as a collection of racist "billionaires" and "their mouthpieces" who only serve the "interests of a handful of the rich circles."
"Racial discrimination and misanthropy are serious maladies inherent to the social system of the U.S., and they have been aggravated since Trump took office," the paper declares. "The racial violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12 is a typical example of the acme of the current administration's policy of racism."
The report goes on to spotlight what it calls the Trump administration's "crackdown on the press," which has "intensified" over the past year.
"Genuine freedom of the press and expression does not exist" in the U.S., the paper argues.
Pyongyang concludes by ridiculing the U.S. for lecturing other nations about human rights while continuing to commit violations of its own, both at home and abroad.
"The U.S., 'guardian of democracy' and 'human rights champion,' is kicking up the human rights racket but it can never camouflage its true identity as the gross violator of human rights," the white paper states.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Just as U.S. President Donald Trump was preparing to lambast North Korea as "a menace that threatens our world" in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Pyongyang attempted to undercut Trump's "ominous" rhetoric by releasing a white paper that highlights America's "gross" human rights violations and deep inequities, from its failure to "embrace paid maternity leave" to its exorbitant healthcare costs.
"In the U.S. the absolute majority of the working masses, deprived of elementary rights to survival, are hovering in the abyss of nightmare."
--North Korea
"In the U.S. the absolute majority of the working masses, deprived of elementary rights to survival, are hovering in the abyss of nightmare," the report declares, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Officially titled the "White Paper on Human Rights Violations in the U.S. in 2017," the report also highlights other major American social and economic issues, including:
In addition to slamming the broader and long-standing facts of American life that consistently put the U.S. behind other wealthy nations, Pyongyang also took aim at the Trump administration, which it characterized as a collection of racist "billionaires" and "their mouthpieces" who only serve the "interests of a handful of the rich circles."
"Racial discrimination and misanthropy are serious maladies inherent to the social system of the U.S., and they have been aggravated since Trump took office," the paper declares. "The racial violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12 is a typical example of the acme of the current administration's policy of racism."
The report goes on to spotlight what it calls the Trump administration's "crackdown on the press," which has "intensified" over the past year.
"Genuine freedom of the press and expression does not exist" in the U.S., the paper argues.
Pyongyang concludes by ridiculing the U.S. for lecturing other nations about human rights while continuing to commit violations of its own, both at home and abroad.
"The U.S., 'guardian of democracy' and 'human rights champion,' is kicking up the human rights racket but it can never camouflage its true identity as the gross violator of human rights," the white paper states.
Just as U.S. President Donald Trump was preparing to lambast North Korea as "a menace that threatens our world" in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Pyongyang attempted to undercut Trump's "ominous" rhetoric by releasing a white paper that highlights America's "gross" human rights violations and deep inequities, from its failure to "embrace paid maternity leave" to its exorbitant healthcare costs.
"In the U.S. the absolute majority of the working masses, deprived of elementary rights to survival, are hovering in the abyss of nightmare."
--North Korea
"In the U.S. the absolute majority of the working masses, deprived of elementary rights to survival, are hovering in the abyss of nightmare," the report declares, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Officially titled the "White Paper on Human Rights Violations in the U.S. in 2017," the report also highlights other major American social and economic issues, including:
In addition to slamming the broader and long-standing facts of American life that consistently put the U.S. behind other wealthy nations, Pyongyang also took aim at the Trump administration, which it characterized as a collection of racist "billionaires" and "their mouthpieces" who only serve the "interests of a handful of the rich circles."
"Racial discrimination and misanthropy are serious maladies inherent to the social system of the U.S., and they have been aggravated since Trump took office," the paper declares. "The racial violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12 is a typical example of the acme of the current administration's policy of racism."
The report goes on to spotlight what it calls the Trump administration's "crackdown on the press," which has "intensified" over the past year.
"Genuine freedom of the press and expression does not exist" in the U.S., the paper argues.
Pyongyang concludes by ridiculing the U.S. for lecturing other nations about human rights while continuing to commit violations of its own, both at home and abroad.
"The U.S., 'guardian of democracy' and 'human rights champion,' is kicking up the human rights racket but it can never camouflage its true identity as the gross violator of human rights," the white paper states.