Korean spies admit death plot
Two North Korean spies have admitted they tried to assassinate the regime's most high-profile defector, a man who once mentored leader Kim Jong Il.
Hwang Jang-yop, chief architect of North Korea's guiding philosophy of self-reliance, was one of North Korea's most powerful officials when he fled the country 13 years ago in a defection that enraged Kim Jong Il.
This week two North Korean army majors were arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill 87-year-old Hwang, prosecutors in the South said.
The two, both 36, confessed to investigators that they were ordered to report back on Hwang's activities and to prepare to "slit the betrayer's throat," a senior prosecutor said.
The arrests came as tensions escalated over the sinking of a South Korean warship that mysteriously exploded and sank last month near the North Korean border. Speculation is mounting that Pyongyang may have been behind the blast.
Hwang, who lives with around-the-clock police protection due to concerns about North Korean attempts on his life, shrugged off the arrests and said they did not intimidate him.
The North Koreans are the first arrests in connection with a plot against the man who once was a close confidant to Kim Jong Il, the prosecutor said. Hwang worked as Kim's private tutor.
The spies, Kim Myong Ho and Dong Myong Kwan, made their way from Yanji, China, to Thailand posing as defectors. Thai authorities deported one to South Korea in January, the other in February.