North Korea accused U.S. authorities on Sunday of "mugging" its diplomats at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York, forcibly confiscating a diplomatic package which it said raised questions about the city as the seat of the United Nations.

The North's Foreign Ministry spokesman said a delegation of the North returning from a U.N. conference on the rights of persons with disabilities "was literally mugged" at the John F. Kennedy airport in "an illegal and heinous act of provocation."

"Diplomats of a sovereign state are being robbed of a diplomatic package in the middle of New York where the headquarters of the United Nations is located and that serves as the venue for international meetings including the United Nations General Assembly," the spokesman said.

"This clearly shows that the U.S. is a felonious and lawless gangster state," the spokesman said in comments carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.