Pyongyang criticizes ex-prisoner over recanted story of 'abuses'

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea sought on Tuesday to discredit a man who claims to have been a prisoner in the DPRK who recently admitted inaccuracies in parts of a book about alleged abuses in the country of his birth.

The public backtracking by Shin Dong-hyuk proves that the entirety of his description of life in a DPRK prison was "scripted by (his) masters", said Pyongyang's official Uriminzokkiri website. It also said survivor reports published in a UN investigation must be "nullified".

The book's author Blaine Harden said Shin had changed the dates and places of some events described in the book.