SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Sunday accused United States officials of “mugging” its diplomats at Kennedy International Airport by seizing a diplomatic package they were carrying. A North Korean delegation, returning home from a United Nations conference in New York, was about to board a plane on Friday when more than 20 agents and police officers from the Department of Homeland Security confiscated the package, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying. “As the diplomats vigorously resisted, they grabbed the diplomatic package using physical violence and made off,” the spokesman said, adding that the North Koreans were carrying a valid diplomatic courier certificate. “This clearly shows that the U.S. is a felonious and lawless gangster state,” the spokesman said. “The U.S. should reflect on its reckless act and be fully aware of the grave consequences to follow.”

Source: New York Times June 18, 2017 17:37 UTC