A North Korean flag flutters at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, in this picture taken near the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, July 19. Reuters-Yonhap

North Korea denounced the United States on Wednesday for the release of an updated human trafficking report, calling the move "absolute nonsense."

In an article posted on its website, Pyongyang's foreign ministry slammed the State Department's publication of the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, which kept the country in Tier 3, the lowest category, for the 20th straight year.

It argued that the U.S. should place itself "on the operating table first" before meddling in other country's affairs and hiding its own "ills."

"That the U.S., which still follows its nasty human trafficking history, issues the 'Trafficking in Persons Report' every year and assesses the 'human trafficking situation' of other countries at its will is absolute nonsense and an insult to the human rights," the article read.