PYONGYANG, March. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday accused the United States of fabricating allegations of drug trafficking against it after a group of people from the east Asian country were acquitted of narcotics crimes in an Australian court.

    "It is not a simple drug matter but a political plot hatched by the U.S. and its allies in a premeditated and deliberate manner to do harm to the DPRK and stifle it over its nuclear issue", said the official Korean Central News Agency.

    Pong Su, a 3,500-ton vessel owned by a DPRK company, was seized off the southeastern coast of Australia on April 2003 by Australian law enforcement authorities. Police suspected the freighter had been used to import 250 kg of heroin to Australia. Four crew members were also detained and charged with drug smuggling.

    The U.S. State Department's annual report said the Pong Su incident was "the first indication that North Korean enterprises and assets are actively transporting significant quantities of illicit narcotics" outside the country's borders.

    The DPRK strongly denied the allegation, saying the U.S. was just trying to "label the DPRK an illegal state under this or that charge, it can never deceive the world."

    Following a three year trial, a Victorian Supreme Court jury in Australia returned a not guilty verdict toward four officers of the ship who had been charged with aiding and abetting the importation of a commercial quantity of heroin on March 5. But the court ordered the destruction of the ship.

    The KCNA on Monday demanded a formal apology and compensation from the U.S. for inflicting "not small damage upon the DPRK's ship and its crewmen," and asked the U.S. to "stop at once all its farces intended to mislead the international community."

    In October, the U.S. government slapped restrictions on a Macaubank and some DPRK companies which it said had been involved in illicit activities, including counterfeiting, money laundering and financing weapons proliferation, ahead of the second phase of the fourth round of six-party talks in November.

    The DPRK has denied the U.S. allegations. Enditem