North Korea accuses South of assassination plot against Kim Jong Il

The Ministry of State Security of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) has issued a statement reporting the arrest of a North Korean citizen allegedly tasked with assassinating the country’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Il. The statement accuses the Republic of Korea (South Korea) of supplying the alleged assassin, whose last name is Ri, with sophisticated “speech and acoustic sensing and pursuit devices for tracking the movement of the top leader and even violent poison in the end”. It said that Ri was arrested while “gathering information about [Kim Jong Il’s] movements”. The government of the Republic of Korea has not commented on the allegations. The National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s primary intelligence organization, has said “it [is] checking the claim”. [IA]