Seoul warns of possible DPRK terrorism

SEOUL: North Korea is threatening to use terrorism against the South, Seoul’s intelligence agency said in a rare public advisory on Monday, and warned South Korean citizens in China and Southeast Asia to be on their guard.

The attacks may be in retaliation for the recent airlift of a large group of North Korean refugees, the National Intelligence Service said. South Korea secretly organised the airlift of more than 460 North Korean refugees last month from a country that activists said was Vietnam.

“North Korea is threatening our country with terrorism in retaliation,” the spy agency said in its statement. Seoul’s warning follows a barrage of verbal attacks by the North accusing the South of premeditated abduction and terrorism against its people. South Korea denied the accusation, saying it was a humanitarian act and that Seoul was bound by law to accept any North Korean seeking asylum.

“We are advising heightened vigilance in view of the refugees’ arrival and the North’s reaction to it,” a spokesman at the agency said by telephone. The spokesman said the warning was not based on specific indications of foreseen attacks against South Koreans but was prompted by the level of the North’s threat made publicly. reuters

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