North Korea preparing attacks on South Korean embassies, spy agency warns

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a military university in Pyongyang last month Photo: AFP

North Korea's spy agency Seoul warned of planning «terrorist» attacks against South Korean officials and citizens abroad.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it recently «found numerous indications that North Korea is preparing for terrorist attacks against our embassy staff or citizens in various countries [such as] China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.»

«North Korea has sent agents to these countries to expand surveillance of South Korean embassies, and is also engaged in specific activities such as searching for South Korean citizens as potential terrorist targets,» the spy agency said.

The NIS said, that the increased threat appears to be linked to a wave of defections by North Korea's elite, who were trapped abroad during the pandemic and are now avoiding returning home after Pyongyang eased strict border controls after becoming «skeptical» of the regime.

Pyongyang views desertion as a serious crime and is believed to severely punish violators, their families, and even people indirectly associated with the incident.

North Korean embassy staff may misrepresent blaming «external» factors for the voluntary desertion of their colleagues, trying to avoid punishment, NIS reports.

As a result, North Korea may be “plotting retaliation” against South Korean embassy employees under such pretexts, NIS added.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Thursday it had raised its anti-terrorism alert status for five years. Its diplomatic missions include embassies in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and consulates in the Russian port city of Vladivostok and the Chinese city of Shenyang.

Seoul and Pyongyang have embassies or consulates in all five places.

The number of deserters has reached a record level since 2017

According to Seoul's Unification Ministry, 196 North Korean defectors arrived in the South last year, with about 10 of them members of Pyongyang's elite class, such as diplomats and possibly their children.

This is the largest number of deserters yet. According to Seoul, the North Korean elite has been heading to the South since 2017.

“The end of the pandemic has allowed North Korean agents previously located within their country to travel abroad on missions, while South Koreans are also traveling abroad without any restrictions,” Lee Man-jeong, president of the Korean Association for the Study of Terrorism. , told AFP.

“Pyongyang appears to be targeting South Korean assets and citizens in foreign countries with which they have strong diplomatic ties.”

Experts say prolonged stays abroad during the pandemic have led to North Korean emigrants began to increasingly question their country's isolated regime.

“By living abroad, these North Koreans were able to send their children to regular schools, avoiding propaganda education and the constant need to be obedient. regime,» said Ahn Chang-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies.

Pyongyang is suspected of involvement in the 1996 murder of the South Korean consul in Vladivostok. , who was attacked and killed by an unknown assailant.

The consul, who is also an intelligence agent, was monitoring Pyongyang's illegal activities, including drug trafficking and the production of counterfeit banknotes, according to South Korean reports.< /p>