Seizure from delegation illegal act, North Korea says

NEW YORK — North Korea alleged Sunday that U.S. officials forcibly seized a diplomatic package from one of their delegations at

John F. Kennedy Airport, calling it an “illegal and heinous act of provocation.”

The official Korean Central News Agency said officials were returning from a U.N. conference on rights of persons with disabilities Friday when they were “literally mugged.”

“At the airport, a group of more than 20 including those who claimed to be from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the police officers made a violent assault like gangsters to take away the diplomatic package from the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) diplomats who were in possession of a valid diplomatic courier certificate,” a spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry told the news agency.

“As the diplomats vigorously resisted, they grabbed the diplomatic package using physical violence and made off,” the spokesman said.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan said Sunday its officers seized media items and packages from three

North Koreans who, according to the U.S. State Department, were not accredited members of North Korea’s Mission to the United Nations.

“The package in question had no diplomatic protection from inspection,” said Lapan, adding that North Koreans tried to retrieve the items.

“The reported aggression was initiated by the North Koreans,” Lapan said. “The individuals were released without further incident but subsequently refused to board their departing flight.”

It wasn’t clear why the items were taken.

The incident comes days after 22-year-old American college student Otto Warmbier was returned to his home state of Ohio in a coma with brain damage after being imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months.