A North Korean research organization maligned the U.S. as an “empire of evils” that has no right to take issue with the country’s human rights record, seeking to deflect criticism after the U.N. Security Council held its first meeting on DPRK human rights abuses in five years.

The statement published in state media claimed the meeting infringed on North Korea’s “sovereignty,” while denouncing a defector who testified at the session as “human scum.”

Sin Hong Chol, North Korea’s current ambassador to Russia, presented his credentials to the president of Azerbaijan