North Korea accused the CIA and South Korea's intelligence service of attempting to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong-Un, with a bio-chemical weapon.
The country's Joint Chiefs of Staff has prepared a system called the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) that would involve surgical missile attacks, exclusive special warfare units and an ability to strike North Korea's leadership if South Korea feels threatened by nuclear attack.
The North Korean Security Ministry alleged that a North Korean native working in Russian Federation as a lumberjack was "bribed", Yonhap reports, by the Central Intelligence Agency and NIS to kill Kim Jong-un.
The ministry alleged that the North Korean man had been "turned" by the CIA and the South Korean intelligence service while working in Russian Federation in 2014. The statement said Kim had received a total payment of about US$740,000 and was given satellite transceivers and other materials and equipment.
"Korean-style anti-terrorist attack will be commenced from this moment to sweep away the intelligence and plot-breeding organizations of the U.S. imperialists and the puppet clique [South Korea]", a North Korean government station published in KCNA.
North Korea has repeatedly denied any involvement in Kim's death.
The 1,800-word report did not specify when the alleged assassination plot was stopped.
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The KCNA report did not say when the assassination plot was stopped.
"They told him that assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method that does not require access to the target, their lethal results will appear after six or twelve months". It comes amid soaring tensions on the Korean peninsula over whether the North will try to conduct a sixth nuclear test - in defiance of United Nations security council resolutions.
It did not mention Kim Jong-un by name, but he is widely referred to as the supreme leader. The North believes the US and South are seeking to assassinate Kim, said Professor Koh Yu-Hwan of Dongguk University.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to tighten sanctions on North Korea by targeting its shipping industry and companies that do business with the reclusive state.
A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva October 2, 2014.
With President Trump promising to stop North Korea developing nuclear weapons, these are also tense times, when Pyongyang could have been tempted to hit back at the US.
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