bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Associated Press

A turncoat assassin sent to North Korea armed with “nano poison” to kill leader Kim Jong-un?
It’s only the latest in a string of odd, as-yet-unproven accusations over the years that a proud, highly sensitive North Korea has levelled at its US and South Korean rivals.
From South Korean plots to kidnap waitresses from the North to threats to target the exact coordinates of South Korea’s “reptile” anti-North Korea media, Pyongyang’s propaganda is awash with conspiracy theories and ultraviolent threats.

One of the more head-turning claims was in 2012, when North Korea said South Korean spies persuaded a defector from the North to infiltrate the country and try to destroy statues of state founder Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong-un.
At a press conference in Pyongyang, a man identified as Jon Yong-chol said he was paid by South Korean agents to blow up a Kim Il-sung monument using a remote-controlled bomb. People who have appeared at similar events have later said they were coerced.
North Korea, which has built a personality cult around the Kim clan, considers Kim Il-sung statues sacred. Pyongyang equated the plot to an “armed invasion” and vowed revenge.
South Korea said Jon, who was arrested by North Korea before he could allegedly blow anything up, defected to the South in 2010. Officials in Seoul insisted the statue claim was “completely false”.
North Korea regularly accuses South Korea of abducting or enticing its citizens to defect, although Seoul denies it.
After 13 North Korean workers from a restaurant in China defected to South Korea in April last year, North Korea said they were kidnapped by South Korean spies.

North Korea has repeatedly demanded their return. It even offered to send North Korean relatives to the South to reunite with the workers, although Seoul rejected the highly unusual overture.
South Korea said the workers chose to resettle in the South on their own. It was the largest group defection by North Koreans to the South since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took power in 2011.
In July last year, North Korea presented to the media a man it alleged was a South Korean spy who tried to enter the North to kidnap children. The detainee, Ko Hyon-chol, apologised for a crime he called “unforgivable,” although South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said it had no relation to the case.

North Korea often arranges news conferences for foreign detainees during which they read statements that purport to acknowledge their wrongdoing and praise the North’s political system. Many detainees have said after their releases that they were coached or coerced beforehand.
The South Korean media is often the target of bizarre threats.
In 2012, North Korea’s military warned that its troops had aimed artillery at the specific coordinates of South Korean media groups over their critical reports on children’s festivals that had been taking place in Pyongyang, threatening a “merciless sacred war” over perceived insults.
The threatened South Korean media companies included TV station Channel A, which described the festivals involving tens of thousands of children as an Adolf Hitler-style “political show.”

“Officers and men of the army corps, divisions and regiments on the front, and strategic rocket forces in the depth of the country are loudly calling for the issue of order to mete out punishment,” said the statement by the North’s Korean People’s Army.
North Korea said it would attack the news companies if South Korea didn’t apologise for orchestrating the “vicious smear campaign,” although it didn’t carry out the threat.
Similar targeted threats were made against South Korea’s leader.
Last December, Kim Jong-un oversaw a military drill that involved a simulated attack on the Blue House, South Korea’s presidential office and residence.

Photos from the North’s state media showed Kim laughing as his special forces troops attacked what appeared to be a full-scale mock-up of the Blue House before setting it on fire.
The drill took place shortly after South Korean lawmakers voted to impeach former president Park Geun-hye, who was formally removed from office in March and is in jail while awaiting her corruption trial.

South Korea’s military “strongly condemned” the drill and warned of “fatal” consequences if the North provoked it.
The drill was particularly disturbing for South Koreans who remember a failed attempt by North Korean commandos in 1968 to assassinate then dictator Park Chung-hee, Park Geun-hye’s father. The 31 commandos came within striking distance of the Blue House, but South Korean security forces managed to repel the assault at the last minute. The only commando captured said he had come to “slit the throat” of Park Chung-hee.


Statue bombs and spies kidnapping waitresses – North Korea’s long history of odd accusations

A shooting target with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s face on it on display at an event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Photo: AFP

A combat drill of the service personnel of the special operation battalion of KPA Unit 525 is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on December 11, 2016. KCNA via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THIS IMAGE. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS. SOUTH KOREA OUT.

epa05343210 A picture made available on 03 June shows North Korean waitresses serving guests at a North Korean restaurant in Beijing city, China, 02 June 2016. Thirteen North Korean restaurant workers stationed in China's Ningbo province staged a successful group defection to South Korea on 06 April. EPA/WU HONG

Kim Jong-un (C), current leader of North Korea, stands with military officers and government officials during the unveiling ceremony of bronze statues of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung (top L) and late leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang April 13, 2012. REUTERS/Bobby Yip (NORTH KOREA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

North Korean girls perform with hoops on Monday, July 22, 2013 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has revealed a new rendition of the "Arirang" mass games, the song-and-dance ensemble. This year’s performance was timed to debut for the 60th anniversary Saturday of the end of the Korean War, and features new scenes focusing on leader Kim Jong Un’s directives. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

North Korean defector Ko Hyon Chol attends a press conference in Pyongyang on July 15, 2016. After fleeing the North to China in 2013 and eventually to South Korea in 2014, Ko was detained by North Korean authorities in May 2016 in a border area with China for allegedly attempting to kidnap a child. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

News

Asia

East Asia