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N Korea 'plotted defector death' N Korea 'plotted defector death'
(about 4 hours later)
South Korea says it has uncovered a plot to assassinate a North Korean defector, the most senior official ever to have fled the authoritarian state. South Korea says it has uncovered a plot to assassinate the most senior official ever to have defected from Communist North Korea.
Hwang Jang Yop, 87, was once a close confidant and mentor for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Two North Koreans, said to have been posing as defectors themselves, have been arrested on suspicion of being on a mission to kill Hwang Jang-yop.
He was the former chairman of the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly, but he defected to the South in 1997. Mr Hwang, 87, once a close confidant of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, defected to the South in 1997.
Seoul says two suspected North Koreans have been arrested, accused of being on a mission to kill him. Pyongyang's official government website had recently threatened him with death.
The alleged plot was uncovered when the two men, posing as defectors themselves, were questioned by South Korean officials during the debriefing sessions that await all North Korean refugees who make it to Seoul. The alleged plot to kill Mr Hwang was uncovered when the two men, named by the Yonhap news agency as Kim and Tong, crossed into South Korea from Thailand earlier this year, posing as defectors themselves.
North Korea, it seems, has never forgotten Mr Hwang's betrayal. They were questioned by South Korean officials during the debriefing sessions that await all North Korean refugees who make it to Seoul.
A unnamed senior official at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office told reporters they had said their orders were to "slit the betrayer's throat", the Associated Press news agency reports.
'Human scum'
Mr Hwang, who was once the secretary of the North Korean Workers' Party, has said he left the country after witnessing the impact of disastrous economic policies which led to widespread famine in the 1990s.
He left close family members behind, many of whom are reported to have been sent to labour camps.
Mr Hwang lives under heavy police protection at an undisclosed location and has remained a harsh critic of Pyongyang.
He recently travelled to the United States to give a lecture, telling journalists that he has no regrets about his actions.
The BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says it appears North Korea has never forgotten Mr Hwang's betrayal.
Just two weeks ago its official government website threatened him with death and described him as a "traitor and human scum".Just two weeks ago its official government website threatened him with death and described him as a "traitor and human scum".
Mr Hwang says he decided to defect after witnessing the disastrous economic policies that led to the North Korean famine in the 1990s. But Mr Hwang was reported to have shrugged of the alleged threat when told of it on Wednesday.
Many of the close family members that he left behind are reported to have been sent to labour camps. "Why would you be alarmed by something like that?" the Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying.
Since arriving in the South he lives under heavy police protection and remains a harsh critic of Pyongyang.
He recently travelled to the United States to give a lecture, telling journalists that he has no regrets.