CIA, accused by North Korea of plotting to kill Kim Jong-un with ‘bio-chemical attack’

North Korea claims CIA paid an assassin to kill Kim Jong-un with a ‘bio-chemical attack’.

North Korea’s accusations occurred on May 4, the secretive regime claiming that a “terrorist group” supported by the CIA attempted to poison Kim Jong-un, in April, as it threatened to “mercilessly destroy” US and South Korean intelligence agencies.

The plot reportedly involved a killer named “Kim,” a “lumberjack” who used to work in Russia, who was allegedly paid $40,000 by the CIA to use radioactive material to assassinate the dictator during North Korea’s Day of the Sun parade.

“They told him that assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method,” said state broadcaster KCNA, according to Yonhap News.

“Then they handed him over $20,000 on two occasions and a satellite transmitter-receiver and let him get [started].”

North Korea went on to claim that the chemical agent which was used “takes 6-12 months for its lethal effects to appear.”

Experts dismissed the extraordinary allegations as regime propaganda, which frequently claims that foreign enemies are trying to kill the supreme leader. Still, this is the first time the CIA has been directly accused of plotting a chemical attack on Kim Jong-un.

“We will ferret out and mercilessly destroy to the last one the terrorists of the U.S. CIA,” a North Korean security minister said in a statement published by state media.

“[A] 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 [of South Korea].”

Tensions on the Korean peninsula soared since the isolated country threatened to carry out its sixth nuclear test and threatened “imminent” war against the United States.

North Korea’s leader has also vowed to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at any time that can strike the mainland United States with a nuclear weapon.

U.S. President Donald Trump instructed his nationals security team, soon after his inauguration, to undergo a wide-ranging review of how to deal with North Korea including “blue sky” ideas not considered by previous administrations. Consequently, the National Security Council presented more options, including assassinating Kim Jong-un or placing nuclear weapons in South Korea, The Telegraph reports.

The assassination would be “tempting” but “the question you have to ask is what happens the day after you decapitate? In North Korea it’s an enormous unknown,” said at the time retired Admiral James Stavridis.

Since the end of the Cold War, the option for the US to assassinate foreign leaders has been heavily downgraded, given that an executive order signed by President Ronald Reagan reads that “no person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination”. Thus, an attempt to kill Kim Jong-un would be a stark reversal of US foreign policy.