North Korea has lashed out at an international report detailing sanctions monitoring activities, including the regime's illicit dispatch of workers overseas, claiming that it "clearly revealed its identity as a conspiracy group that distorts the normal into abnormal and brands the legal as illegal."

In a statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson released on Monday through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea condemned the findings, saying, "[They] concocted and released a so-called 'report' taking issue with the reciprocal and routine economic cooperation relations between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and other countries."

The Foreign Ministry claimed, "The illegal acts being carried out under the signboard of implementing UN 'resolutions' by the 'multilateral sanctions monitoring team'—a ghost group lacking any legitimacy in its reason for existence and purpose—constitute a violation of the UN Charter and relevant international laws, as well as a mockery of the international community."

It further asserted, "The exchange and cooperation relations that our state maintains with other countries are part of the exercise of legitimate rights in accordance with bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements, and under no circumstances can they be subject to third-party interference or investigation."

The ministry also stated, "What should rightly be taken issue with and rejected in current international relations is the rogue behavior of the United States and the West, which is being openly perpetrated worldwide in contravention of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter that prohibit the threat or use of force against the political independence and territorial integrity of any state."

It emphasized, "As it has done so far, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will never overlook and will strongly respond to the malicious attempts of hostile forces seeking to restrict and hinder the national development of sovereign states and their normal, mutually beneficial cooperation relations, and will thoroughly defend the state's dignity and development rights and interests."

Earlier, on September 16, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), comprising 11 countries including South Korea, the United States, and Japan, published a report on the theme of 'Violations and Evasions of UN Security Council Resolutions Through North Korea's Dispatch of Overseas Workers.'

UN Security Council Resolution 2375, adopted in September 2017, prohibits North Korean workers from generating overseas income and stipulates that UN member states must not issue work permits to North Korean laborers.

The report estimated that up to 100,000 North Korean workers remain in at least 17 countries, including Russia and China, generating revenue, and that North Korean authorities are confiscating 80% to 90% of the wages earned by these overseas workers.

The MSMT was launched to fill the void in sanctions monitoring against North Korea following the disbandment of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea Panel of Experts in 2024.

In a joint statement, the MSMT participating states noted that the income earned by North Korean overseas workers has been funneled into financing Pyongyang's illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs, urging the UN Security Council to re-establish the Panel of Experts with the same mandate and structure as before.