North Korea on Friday accused the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency and South Korea’s intelligence service of a failed plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jo
SEOUL/WASHINGTON – North Korea on Friday accused the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency and South Korea’s intelligence service of a failed plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong Un with a biochemical bomb at a military parade in Pyongyang.
North Korea has a history of accusing the United States and South Korea of planning preemptive military attacks and to target its leaders, but analysts said it could be the first time it has accused the allies of an actual assassination attempt.
Pyongyang presented extensive details but offered no concrete proof to back its accusations of the plot, which it said could never have succeeded.
The CIA and the White House declined to comment on the statement from North Korea’s Ministry of State Security, which accused the CIA and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service of bribing a North Korean to target the country’s “supreme leadership.”
The charge came just after a visit to South Korea by CIA director Mike Pompeo and at a time of high tension driven by concerns that North Korea may conduct a sixth nuclear test or further missile launches in defiance of U. N. Security Council resolutions.
The North Korean statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency- which often issues shrill, bellicose threats and accusations against the United States and South Korea, said the foreign intelligence agencies “infiltrated” North Korea “to commit state-sponsored terrorism.”
It said they had “ideologically corrupted” and bribed a North Korean surnamed Kim — the most common Korean surname — and turned him into “a terrorist full of repugnance and revenge against the supreme leadership.”
“They hatched a plot of letting human scum Kim commit bomb terrorism targeting the supreme leadership during events at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and at military parade and public procession after his return home, ” KCNA said.
