REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PYONGYANG -- North Korea has accused the CIA and South Korea's intelligence service of a plot to attack its "supreme leadership" with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a "pipe dream" could never succeed.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test or test-launch another ballistic missile in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
North Korea warned this week that United States hostility had brought the region to the brink of nuclear war.
The North's Ministry of State Security released a statement saying the CIA and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea "hatched a vicious plot to hurt the supreme leadership" of North Korea.
"A hideous terrorists' group, which the CIA and the [NIS] infiltrated into the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] on the basis of covert and meticulous preparations to commit state-sponsored terrorism against the supreme leadership of the DPRK by use of bio-chemical substance, has been recently detected," the North's KCNA news agency quoted the statement as saying.
While the statement did not mention Kim Jong-un by name, he is widely referred to as the Supreme Leader of North Korea.
What was the alleged plot?
KCNA said the two intelligence services "ideologically corrupted" and bribed a North Korean surnamed Kim and turned him into "a terrorist full of repugnance and revenge against the supreme leadership of the DPRK".
"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.
"They told him that assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method that does not require access to the target, their lethal results will appear after six or twelve months …
"Then they handed him over $US20,000 on two occasions and a satellite transmitter-receiver and let him get versed in it."
The US Embassy in Seoul and the NIS were not immediately available for comment.
The US military has said CIA director Mike Pompeo visited South Korea this week and met the NIS chief for discussions.
KCNA says alleged plot could never be accomplished
North Korea conducted an annual military parade, featuring a display of missiles and overseen by top leader Kim Jong Un and his right-hand men, on April 15.
The country then held a large, live-fire artillery drill 10 days later.
KCNA, which often carries threats against the US, gave lengthy details about the alleged plot but said it could never be accomplished.
"Criminals going hell-bent to realise such a pipe dream cannot survive on this land even a moment," it said.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday (local time) that Washington was working on more sanctions against North Korea if it takes steps that merit a new response.
He also warned other countries their firms could face so-called secondary sanctions for doing illicit business with Pyongyang.
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