PYONGYANG, March 14 (Xinhua) -- An official media outlet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday accused the United States of trying to reverse the detente underway on the Korean Peninsula with sanctions.

The official Minju Joson daily said in a commentary that the recent U.S. decision to impose sanctions on 56 designations of the DPRK or DPRK-related shipping and trading companies, vessels, and one individual, showed how desperately Washington was working to ratchet up the sanctions and pressure on the DPRK and suffocate it.

It said the U.S. decision for new sanctions was not merely a continuation of past sanctions but illustrates an intention to "bring back the situation to a phase of tension by escalating the sanctions and pressure."

The U.S. justifies its hegemonic policy towards the Asia-Pacific region under the pretext of mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the daily of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly said. The commentary said the U.S. is nervous about the detente and wants to break it.

U.S. President Donald Trump said late February that the United States would launch "the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country" on the DPRK.