Moscow has already stuck the boot in, now it’s the turn of Pyongyang. Citing the protests in Ferguson, North Korea has described the US as a human rights tundra where racial discrimination flourishes.

The foreign ministry heaped scorn on the notion of rule of law in the US. “This is clear proof of the real picture of the US as a tundra of human rights, where extreme racial discrimination acts are openly practised,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

Last week the UN urged the security council to refer North Korea’s leaders including supreme leader Kim Jong-un to the international criminal court for possible indictment for crimes against humanity.

The resolution, drafted by Japan and the EU, drew heavily on the work of a UN inquiry which concluded in February that the North was committing rights abuses “without parallel in the contemporary world”. “The great irony is that the US tries to measure other countries with its wrong human rights standard, though it is a typical human rights abuser,” the foreign ministry spokesman said.

His statement specifically criticised Barack Obama for his efforts to “justify” racial discrimination by talking about the rule of law.

Although China and Russia would block any security council move to refer Pyongyang to the ICC, North Korea has been rattled by the adoption of the strongly worded UN resolution, and has threatened “catastrophic consequences” for its supporters.

This week the Russian foreign ministry released a statement by its human rights ombudsman observing that “the problem of racism in the US has a systemic nature and has the potential to cause serious unrest and splits in society”.