N. Korean spy detained for plotting to assassinate its official in Seoul

SEOUL - A North Korean agent has been arrested for plotting to assassinate Hwang Jang-Yop, a former secretary of the North’s ruling party, who died earlier this month from heart attack, according to South Korean prosecutors.

According to The Telegraph, the 46-year-old is accused of plotting to murder Jang-Yop on orders from the North’s Reconnaissance Bureau, which oversees espionage operations against the South.

Jang-Yop lived in Seoul under police guard at an undisclosed address and became a bitter critic of the regime he once served, because of which he reportedly received several death threats.

The 87-year-old was found dead in his bathtub on October 10.

According to police, an autopsy had shown that he had suffered heart failure the day before he was planned to be assassinated, and added that they suspected no foul play in his death.

“No traces of any drug or poison were found in his body. There was no foul play involved in his death,” the statement added. We are closing the investigation since there are no grounds to suspect a homicide,” police said earlier.

Its has been reported that the spy, identified as Lee, entered South Korea via Thailand in August posing as an ordinary refugee and that his mission was disclosed during an interrogation by security officials about his motives for fleeing the communist state, prosecutors said.

In July, two North Korean spies were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Seoul for plotting to murder Hwang. (ANI)