North Korea’s foreign ministry has denounced France for dispatching a naval frigate to monitor the implementation of U.N. sanctions near the Korean Peninsula, calling the move an “overt military provocation” that demonstrates Paris has sided with U.S. “hostile policy” against the DPRK.

The French frigate Vendémiaire has conducted surveillance operations since last month as part of international efforts to stop North Korea’s circumvention of the international sanctions regime, according to France’s Ministry of Armed Forces. The ship has carried out its mission as part of France’s contribution to the eight-nation U.N. Security Council Enforcement Coordination Cell (ECC), of which Paris is a member.