A spokesperson for the Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea issued the following press statement "The Illegal Violation of Copyright by US Information Dealers Can Never Be Tolerated" on March 3:

The US shameless infringement on the inviolable sovereignty of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is being perpetrated in various realms.

Typical of such deeds is the United States unhesitating illegal infringement on the intellectual property of the dignified DPRK and the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) through the internet.

The US online medium on the DPRK "NK NEWS" posts on its sister sites "NK PRO" and "KOREA PRO" articles smearing the DPRK and Chongryon by craftily misusing the information from their publications and news items.

It has openly put in a database of the site "KCNA WATCH" the said DPRK information, illegally stolen irrespective of the publicly-recognized international law, allowing its subscribers free access to the information as its own. So far more than 600,000 pieces of information of over 70 kinds has been posted on the site without permission.

The Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea strongly condemns the impudent act of "NK NEWS" as an online violent robbery on the inviolable intellectual property of the DPRK and as a wanton violation of the "Berne Convention" and the "WIPO Copyright Treaty".

It is illegal and criminal to duplicate, post and distribute any writings without permission from its author.

However, as the United States does not hesitate to invade other countries in order to satisfy its cupidity, it regards the infringement on other countries' copyright as a trifle.

Chongryon, a dignified overseas compatriots' organization of the DPRK and authorized by the media of the DPRK, has strongly demanded the immediate deletion of the data, posted without permission, as well as compensation and apology several times since August 2024. But, "NK NEWS" shamelessly behaved, talking about "mistakes of the operators".

It was fully disclosed through investigation that such DPRK's media data, posted on the website of the "KCNA WATCH" without any permission, had been stolen from a state library in Europe which reads under a contract the KPM website run by Korean Media of Chongryon.

Nevertheless, the "NK NEWS" side blustered that the credentials related to the protection of copyright and the right to use, issued by the DPRK media to the Korean Media of Chongryon under the legal procedures, cannot be recognized as it has not been certified by the US jurisdictional authorities. Moreover, it has gone the lengths of making preposterous gangster-like logic that our side has to be thankful for having introduced the DPRK.

This is nothing but a reckless behavior of adding to the crimes already committed by itself.

The Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea strongly urges the United States to stop at once such poor excuses that will not work on anyone and to make an official apology and compensation for its illegal deed.

We will closely watch the future attitude of "NK NEWS".