ID :
36527
Fri, 12/19/2008 - 17:35
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/36527
The shortlink copeid
Seoul denies Pyongyang`s claim of assassination attempt
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday denied North Korea's claim that it hired an agent to assassinate Pyongyang's leaders, including Kim Jong-il, a rare announcement from the communist country that depicts him as holding absolute power.
North Korea's Ministry of Public Security, the country's intelligence agency,
said Thursday that it has arrested a North Korean national "scheming to carry out
a terror mission given by the (South's) puppet intelligence agency to harm our
leadership."
It is very rare for Pyongyang to publicize a terror attempt against its
leadership. South Korean officials denied the accusation.
"It has nothing to do with our agency," an official of the National Intelligence
Service said over the telephone on condition of anonymity.
Pyongyang said the agent was "won over" by a Seoul intelligence official in the
border region to collect information on leaders' activities. He later received a
voice tracking device and even poison for his missions, the North's announcement
said.
North Korea did not specifically name Kim Jong-il as the target, but "leadership"
in Pyongyang generally refers to him and his top aides.
"It's not the kind of incident we can verify," Lee Sang-min, a political analysis
official at Unification Ministry, said. "It is North Korea's announcement. And
there's nothing our government can confirm."
Experts note that Pyongyang's announcement is highly unusual as the secretive
regime considers the leader as bearer of absolute authority and normally would
try to hide any assassination attempt against its leader. Pyongyang may be
risking a hint that Kim's absolute authority can be challenged so as to deliver a
grave warning toward Seoul, they said.
"Any attempt against the leadership is such a sensitive issue that Pyonyang
wouldn't dare talk about it publicly," Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at
Seoul's Dongguk University, said. "It's an absolute power. The fact that North
Korea did so means that it is taking the incident very seriously. We don't know
what kind of attempt it was and whether the South Korean intelligence agency was
behind it, but Pyongyang sounds tough toward Seoul," he said.
South Korea had convicted a woman in August, accusing her of spying for North
Korea. Won Jeong-hwa, who reportedly came to South Korea disguised as a defector,
Won Jeong-hwa, was arrested in August and sentenced to five years in jail in
October on charges of collecting South Korean military secrets for Pyongyang and
trying to assassinate high-level North Korean defectors in Seoul.
North Korea vehemently denied the report and accused the South of fabricating the
incident to incite communist scare.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday denied North Korea's claim that it hired an agent to assassinate Pyongyang's leaders, including Kim Jong-il, a rare announcement from the communist country that depicts him as holding absolute power.
North Korea's Ministry of Public Security, the country's intelligence agency,
said Thursday that it has arrested a North Korean national "scheming to carry out
a terror mission given by the (South's) puppet intelligence agency to harm our
leadership."
It is very rare for Pyongyang to publicize a terror attempt against its
leadership. South Korean officials denied the accusation.
"It has nothing to do with our agency," an official of the National Intelligence
Service said over the telephone on condition of anonymity.
Pyongyang said the agent was "won over" by a Seoul intelligence official in the
border region to collect information on leaders' activities. He later received a
voice tracking device and even poison for his missions, the North's announcement
said.
North Korea did not specifically name Kim Jong-il as the target, but "leadership"
in Pyongyang generally refers to him and his top aides.
"It's not the kind of incident we can verify," Lee Sang-min, a political analysis
official at Unification Ministry, said. "It is North Korea's announcement. And
there's nothing our government can confirm."
Experts note that Pyongyang's announcement is highly unusual as the secretive
regime considers the leader as bearer of absolute authority and normally would
try to hide any assassination attempt against its leader. Pyongyang may be
risking a hint that Kim's absolute authority can be challenged so as to deliver a
grave warning toward Seoul, they said.
"Any attempt against the leadership is such a sensitive issue that Pyonyang
wouldn't dare talk about it publicly," Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at
Seoul's Dongguk University, said. "It's an absolute power. The fact that North
Korea did so means that it is taking the incident very seriously. We don't know
what kind of attempt it was and whether the South Korean intelligence agency was
behind it, but Pyongyang sounds tough toward Seoul," he said.
South Korea had convicted a woman in August, accusing her of spying for North
Korea. Won Jeong-hwa, who reportedly came to South Korea disguised as a defector,
Won Jeong-hwa, was arrested in August and sentenced to five years in jail in
October on charges of collecting South Korean military secrets for Pyongyang and
trying to assassinate high-level North Korean defectors in Seoul.
North Korea vehemently denied the report and accused the South of fabricating the
incident to incite communist scare.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
