An undated photo released by the US justice department on May 9, 2019, shows the North Korean cargo ship Wise Honest. (AP)North Korea on Tuesday called the US seizure of a North Korean cargo ship involved in banned coal exports a "robbery" and demanded that the vessel be returned immediately. The seizure of the cargo ship, which was announced last week, came at a delicate moment in US-North Korean ties, with North Korea resuming weapons tests that seem meant to force the United States to ease sanctions. Before the United States seized the cargo ship, the 581-foot vessel, named the Wise Honest, had first been detained by Indonesia in April 2018 while transporting a large amount of coal. North Korea is banned from exporting coal under U.N. sanctions toughened in 2017 to punish increasingly powerful weapons tests that year.

Source: The Telegraph May 14, 2019 06:11 UTC