North Korea says surveillance leaks prove US is 'kingpin' of rights abuse

North Korea rushed to the defence of American civil liberties on Tuesday, saying revelations of mass surveillance operations showed the United States was the "kingpin" of rights abuse.

Rights groups and defectors have long accused the North, one of the world's most closed societies, of totalitarian practices. These include brutal suppression of dissent, the operation of a prison camp network holding some 200,000 inmates and a "military-first" policy that has led to periodic famines.