By Lee Tae-hoon
Officials denied a report Wednesday the Defense Ministry has beefed up security for Kim Kwan-jin after receiving intelligence that North Korea has sent agents to assassinate him.
Citing multiple anonymous sources, the JoongAng Ilbo reported that Defense Minister Kim is taking extra precautions because a group of North Korean agents are trying to kill him.
“It’s difficult for me to disclose the details of the security service,” Kim Min-seok, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, said. “But I can tell you that there hasn’t been much change in the level of security provided for him.”
A senior defense intelligence officer echoed that statement saying there has not been a noticeable change in the protection of Kim, though the military may have raised its alert level.
“It would be safe to assume that the report is based on the assumption that Pyongyang is not delighted with the hard-line stance of Kim and that Seoul has recently taken a precautious measure of strengthening security for him,” he said, requesting anonymity.
Since taking the top post last December, Kim has vowed not to tolerate the communist North’s provocations and to shift the nation’s military posture from passive defense to proactive deterrence.
North Korea has frequently balked at Kim’s remarks and its state media has dubbed him an “confrontation maniac” and a “traitor.”
On June 3, the North issued a statement saying, “Military thugs, including Kim Kwan-jin should be immediately executed.”
The remarks came following a news report that the South Korean military used images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son, Kim Jong-un, as targets on firing ranges.
The JoongAng Ilbo alleged that Kim has been escorted by armed military police officers in plain clothes when venturing outside his office due to an alarming intelligence report regarding his safety.
“Korean and U.S. military and intelligence authorities are trying to hunt down those trying to kill Kim, who has pledged to sternly respond to any of the North’s provocative action, after confirming the fact that they have begun their operation in South Korea,” a source was quoted as saying.
The paper also claimed that military and intelligence officials are trying to determine the number of would-be assassins, and whether they are North Korean agents sent by Pyongyang or foreign nationals who entered the South from a third country.
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