N. Korea calls for standing up to US-led 'Western coercion'

North Korea on Saturday called for standing up to "Western coercion" led by the United States and its allies, accusing them of violating U.N. principles of respect for other countries' sovereignty and noninterference in their internal affairs. North Korea made the call in a statement released by the foreign ministry, urging partner countries to continue raising their voices against such actions should they want to build "an equal and multipolar" world. "Unilateral coercive measures that obliterate the rights to sovereignty, survival and development must be abolished," the ministry said in the statement posted on the website. The ministry also said that the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the U.N. — a new U.N. group of which North Korea is a member — had a meeting earlier this month to mark the U.N. International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures. The group was launched in 2021 by 18 countries, including China, Russia and Iran, to support what they say are the purposes of the U.N., but its members largely include some of the world's most repressive regimes. The gro