Kim vow to kill ex-president

North Korea: Pyongyang accuses former south leader of assassination bid

North Korea has vowed to execute South Korea’s former president and her spy director, accusing them of planning to assassinate the North’s leadership.

The official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday that North Korea will impose a “death penalty” on ousted South Korean president Park Geun-hye and former spy chief Lee Byoung Ho, and they could receive a “miserable dog’s death any time, at any place and by whatever methods from this moment”.

It accused Ms Park of pushing forward a secret operation to “replace the supreme leadership” of the North beginning in late 2015 in a plan spearheaded by the South’s National Intelligence Service that included an assassination plot.

It said the plan was automatically scrapped when lawmakers impeached Ms Park last December over a corruption scandal.

North Korea also demanded that South Korea hand over Ms Park and Mr Lee under “international convention” because they committed “state-sponsored terrorism”.

An official from the South’s National Intelligence Agency said the allegations were untrue. North Korean propaganda often contains extreme claims.

In May it accused the US and South Korean spy agencies of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on leader Kim Jong-Un involving biochemical weapons.

Following months of massive protests, Ms Park was formally removed from office and arrested in March over the corruption scandal. She was indicted in April on bribery and other charges.

Relations between the rival Koreas deteriorated under Ms Park’s conservative government, which maintained a hard line towards North Korea.

The North conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches during her presidency.

North Korea frequently used invectives towards Ms Park, once calling her a “murderous demon” destined to meet “a sudden and violent death”.

North Korea’s statement came hours after new South Korean president Moon Jae-in left for the US for meetings with president Donald Trump that are likely to be dominated by North Korea’s nuclear threat. Mr Moon, a liberal who took office in May, has expressed a desire to reach out to North Korea.