North Korea accuses CIA of biochemical plot to kill Kim Jong-un

[DonViejo]

Source: The Guardian




Pyongyang claims US bribed North Korean citizen who had contacts with South Korean intelligence to kill its leader

Ewen MacAskill in London and Justin McCurry in Osaka
Friday 5 May 2017 07.58 EDT

North Korea has accused the CIA of attempting to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong-un, using unspecified biochemical substances during a public ceremonial event in the capital, Pyongyang.

The ministry of state security issued a statement claiming the US intelligence agency had bribed a North Korean citizen, named only as Kim, to carry out the plot. It said possible locations for the killing included the mausoleum where Kim Jong-un’s father and grandfather – the country’s founder – lie in state, or a military parade.

The accusation comes amid rising tensions over North Korea’s rogue nuclear programme, with Pyongyang issuing increasingly belligerent rhetoric in a tense standoff with the Trump administration.

Like other North Korean claims, the allegation that the CIA plotted to assassinate Kim is impossible to verify. Media reports about the regime are tightly controlled by the state’s propaganda machinery and often designed merely to burnish the leader’s reputation.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/05/north-korea-accuses-cia-biochemical-plot-kill-kim-jong-un

[ripcord]

1. I'm getting cold war flashbacks

[tenorly]

2. "a North Korean citizen, named only as Kim"

Well, that really narrows it down. These guys are even worse at fake news than Trump!

[Plucketeer]

3. Last name:

Chee.

[tenorly]

6. Oh, yeah. I met his cousin once.

Sam Young Gai.

[HoneyBadger]

4. Guessing about 20 percent of the country is in bigly trouble

About 20 percent of South Korea's population of 49.3 million (2015 est.) has the family name Kim. That's about 10 million people. Lee is the second most common name, and Park (or Pak) is the third. All told, about 45 percent of Koreans have one of these three names!

[tenorly]

7. Ah, memories of Koreatown.

I lived there for a couple of years in the early 2000s. They're reserved at first; but they're great once they get to know you.

They used to also be overwhelmingly Republican, as they, like Cubans, used to believe a GOP president - not a Democrat - would run the Communists out of their country.

Not so anymore. A lot of white folks in California hate them because they tend to be successful. Over time they came to realize that those that do hate them, are almost always Republicans.

[tavernier]

5. Honest, we never considered that!!

(Although I personally have envisioned some bugs bunny techniques... stick of dynamite... fork in electrical socket... changing "Rabbit Season" sign to "Ugly Little Fat Korean Dictator Season&quot