On Friday, in a statement run by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North’s Ministry of State Security accused the United States and South Korea of attempting to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong Un, with a “bio-chemical substance.” According to the Associated Press, the North said in the statement that a “hideous terrorist group” conspired with the CIA and South Korea’s Intelligence Service (IS) to execute the hermit kingdom’s leader.
The statement said that the North would “ferret out and mercilessly destroy” the “terrorists” in the CIA and IS for targeting Kim Jong Un. It added that in 2014, the spy agencies “ideologically corrupted and bribed” a citizen of North Korea who had been working with a “radioactive” and “nano poisonous” substance in Russia to be used in an alleged assassination attempt. The North accused the South of giving $20,000 and satellite communication equipment to the citizen to help complete the job.
The North threatened an immediate counterattack.
“Korean-style anti-terrorist attack will be commenced from this moment to sweep away the intelligence and plot-breeding organizations of the U.S. imperialists and the puppet clique,” the statement said, referring to South Korea.
Though North Korea is known for making provocative statements through its state-run news agencies, this one was unusually specific in its details.
In another rare move, on Wednesday, KCNA ran a commentary piece which criticized its ally China directly for its “reckless remarks” on the North’s nuclear program. The North warned that China was testing its patience and that such actions would trigger “grave” consequences.
On Tuesday, North Korea accused the United States of pushing the Korean peninsula to “the brink of nuclear war” with the latest move by the U.S. of performing military drills with a pair of bombers along with the South Korean and Japanese Air Forces in a show of strength. KCNA made the accusations after the two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers were deployed Monday night.
[revad2]
