Two weeks after "Undercover in the Secret State" first aired, "North Korea on Saturday called a recent CNN program depicting a public execution in the communist state a 'sheer fabrication' and dismissed it as a ratings ploy," Reuters reports.

In a commentary, the North's official KCNA news agency said:

> "The video tape is full of sheer lies negating the popular and class nature and the democratic principle of the DPRK's laws and tarnishing its image from A to Z."

> "CNN is losing popularity as the days go by although it had high audience rating in the world in the past...Much upset by this, CNN staged such poor farce to improve its image."

> The network has been "reduced to a trumpeter and a political waiting maid for the U.S. administration."