PYONGYANG, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Tuesday that the dispossession of a DPRK cargo ship was "an unlawful and outrageous act" committed by the United States.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the spokesperson as saying that the United States forcibly took a DPRK cargo ship and linked the ship to United Nations Security Council sanctions and its domestic "sanctions acts," all imposed against the DPRK.

The United States has detained a DPRK cargo ship known as the "Wise Honest" for violating U.S. and United Nations sanctions, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

The latest U.S. act constitutes an extension of America's attempt to bring the DPRK to its knees by means of "maximum pressure," and an outright denial of the underlying spirit of the June 12 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement committed to establishing a new start to bilateral relations, it added.

The spokesperson also urged the U.S. government to consider how its actions might impact future relations between the two countries and immediately return the ship to Pyongyang.