Pyongyang has accused U.S. authorities of having "mugged" a delegation of North Korean officials by seizing a mysterious "diplomatic package" at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, state media reported Sunday.

Citing a spokesman from the North's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the official Korean Central News Agency said that a group of more than 20 Homeland Security and police officers had "made a violent assault like gangsters to take away the diplomatic package" as diplomats attempted to board a flight, despite them possessing "a valid diplomatic courier certificate" for the package.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK regards this mugging by the U.S. as an intolerable act of infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and a malicious provocation, and strongly condemns it in the name of the government of the DPRK," the spokesman was quoted as saying.