Seoul, Jan 4 North Korea on Sunday "strongly" denounced the US military strike that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, calling his ouster "the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty."
The North's Foreign Ministry made the remarks as US President Donald Trump said Washington has captured Maduro and his wife in a large-scale military strike.
It said that it "strongly denounces the US hegemony-seeking act committed in Venezuela as the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The capture of Maduro came after the Trump administration's monthslong pressure campaign against the Venezuelan leader, Yonhap News Agency reported.
It was also in line with the US administration's drive to reassert American power in the Western Hemisphere and its vow to combat drug-trafficking cartels, while some critics pointed out that it proceeded without a congressional authorisation process and could escalate regional tensions.
"The incident is another example that clearly confirms once again the rogue and brutal nature of the US, which the international community has so frequently witnessed for a long time," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the KCNA.
The ministry urged the international community to "recognise the seriousness" of the Venezuelan situation and raise protests against the US's "habitual violation of the sovereignty of other countries."
Maduro has been locked in a notorious federal jail in New York after his capture by the US forces at a military base in his country, from where he had been taunting President Donald Trump.
As he was escorted into the local office of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on Saturday night before being jailed, he said sarcastically, looking at the camera, “Good night. Happy New Year”.
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