DPRK media attack claims of economic meltdown

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) official news agency KCNA slammed claims of an "economic meltdown" in the country in a commentary issued Thursday. It accused the United States and South Korea of asserting that DPRK's economy had been in decline for two years and said a document they published recommending investors to be "careful" when investing in the socialist country was a "sophism aimed to distort the true picture of the DPRK's self-supporting economy." The past two years marked "a stirring period" in the country's history, in which unprecedented miracles and innovations had occurred, including the completion of its plans for economic modernization, the commentary said. "Today, the DPRK's economy is at the highest tide of its development ever in history," it said. The U.S. and South Korea's "smear propaganda," said the commentary, "is an absurd and reptile deed intended to hinder other countries' investment in the DPRK and intercept its external economic relations." "It is the disposition and tradition of the army and people of the DPRK to advance with self-pride, full of conviction despite the enemies' despicable smear campaign," it said. The commentary said the DPRK would as ever boost cooperation with nations friendly to it while more strikingly displaying the potential and might of its independent economy.