North Korea criticised the Group of Seven countries as a “remnant of the Cold War” that causes conflicts for their own interests and violates other countries’ sovereignty, its state media KCNA has said.

According to Reuters, Jo Chol Su, director general of the Department of International Organisations at Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, condemned G7 foreign ministers for “slandering” the country’s exercise of “self-defensive and legitimate sovereignty” in a joint statement following a meeting last week in Tokyo.

“G7 is just the main dangerous source of destroying global peace and security and the main stumbling block to the establishment of a just international order,” Jo said, according to KCNA.

Jo also accused Washington of “conniving at and fomenting” military strikes at Gaza while “shielding Israel’s hideous massacre of civilians”. “It has lost the justification for its existence,” Jo said.

“G7, the remnant of the Cold War, should be dismantled immediately, and this will be the first step toward defusing the present international crisis and restoring global peace.”