SEOUL: South Korea's spy agency said on Friday (May 3) that Pyongyang was plotting "terrorist" attacks targeting Seoul's officials and citizens overseas, with the foreign ministry raising the alert level for diplomatic missions in five countries.
The North Korea flag flutters next to concertina wire at the North Korea n embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Mar 9, 2017. SEOUL: South Korea 's spy agency said on Friday that Pyongyang was plotting"terrorist" attacks targeting Seoul's officials and citizens overseas, with the foreign ministry raising the alert level for diplomatic missions in five countries.
The spy agency said it appeared linked to a wave of defections by elite North Koreans who were trapped overseas during the pandemic and are now avoiding returning home after Pyongyang eased strict border controls, having become"sceptical" of the regime. As a result, the North may be"plotting retaliation" against South Korean embassy staff on such pretences, NIS added.
This marked the highest number of defections by North Korean elites to the South since 2017, according to Seoul. "While living abroad, these North Koreans were able to send their children to normal schools, avoiding propaganda education and the constant need to be obedient to the regime," Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.
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