N. Korea slams reports of arms deals with Hamas, Hezbollah

North Korea has denounced allegations that it supplied missiles to Hamas and material support to Hezbollah as "sheer fiction" and a "sinister" effort to link Pyongyang to Middle East disputes.

The rebuttal from the foreign ministry was carried in a statement late Monday by the North's official KCNA news agency.

"Lurking behind this propaganda is a sinister intention of the US to justify its criminal acts of backing Israel," it said, accusing Washington of seeking to stir up anti-Pyongyang sentiment by linking the North to the Middle East disputes.