N. Korea ‘mug’ shot
Claims US robbed ‘diplos’ at JFK
North Korea claimed Sunday that a delegation of diplomats got “literally mugged” by American authorities at JFK Airport — but the US said the North Koreans weren’t official envoys and had touched off “the reported aggression.”
A spokesman for North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the US of forcibly seizing a “diplomatic package” in “an illegal and heinous act of provocation.”
The hermit kingdom demanded an apology and also questioned whether the Big Apple is worthy of hosting the United Nations.
“This mugging act of the US serves as a graphic account telling the world how reckless and despicable the US hostile policy towards the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has become,” according to a statement released through North Korea’s official news agency.
North Korea said its diplomats were confronted by more than 20 cops and Homeland Security officers who ignored a “valid diplomatic courier certificate” and used “physical violence” to snatch the package on Friday.
North Korea did not detail the contents of the package.
The rogue nation threatened unspecified “grave consequences” if the US failed to provide “a good explanation of its act of infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and an official apology on behalf of the US government.”
“The international community needs to seriously reconsider whether or not New York, where such an outrageous mugging is rampant, is fit to serve as the venue for international meetings,” the statement said.
The Department of Homeland Security gave a different account, saying the three North Korean nationals who passed through Customs inspections “were not accredited members of North Korea’s Mission to the UN and had no entitlement to diplomatic immunity.”
“DHS seized multiple media items and packages from the individuals, at which time the North Koreans attempted to physically retrieve the items but were prevented from doing so by DHS officers,” spokesman David Lapan said.
“The reported aggression was initiated by the North Koreans. The individuals were released without further incident but subsequently refused to board their departing flight without the items that had been seized,” he said.
The dispute erupted amid mounting tensions over North Korea’s testing of ballistic missiles, and controversy over last week’s release of ailing former University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier after 17 months in captivity.
Warmbier — who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a political poster from a restricted floor of a North Korean hotel — was sent home to Ohio with severe brain damage, which North Korea blamed on his contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill following his trial in March 2016.
Rep. Peter King (R-LI) said North Korea’s treatment of Warmbier denied it “the right to complain about anything.”
“Besides, North Korea is known the world over for using diplomatic pouches for illicit smuggling. If anything, this was good police work,” King said.