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NORTH KOREA HAS accused the CIA and Seoul’s intelligence services of conspiring to assassinate the isolated country’s leader Kim Jong-Un with a biochemical weapon, amid heightened tensions in the region.
In a statement, the ministry of state security said it had foiled a “vicious plot” by a “hideous terrorists’ group” to attack the North’s “supreme leadership”.
The accusations come with the US and North trading threats over the latter’s nuclear and missile programmes, and as Washington considers whether to re-designate Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism.
That follows the killing of Kim’s estranged half-brother Kim Jong-Nam by two women using the banned nerve agent VX at Kuala Lumpur international airport.
Both Malaysia and South Korea have blamed the North for the assassination, which retorts that the accusations are an attempt to smear it.
The security ministry statement, carried on the North’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), said the CIA and the South’s intelligence had suborned, bribed and blackmailed a North Korean citizen named only as Kim to carry out the attack.
Possible locations included the mausoleum where Kim Jong-Un’s father and grandfather – the North’s founder – lie in state, or a military parade.
Such an operation would be extremely difficult to prepare and carry out successfully.
The North’s leader is surrounded by tight security at all times, and Pyongyang maintains a gigantic surveillance system over its own population that is ingrained at every level of society, where open dissent is unknown.
The CIA told its agent Kim it had access to radioactive and “nano poisonous” substances whose lethal results would appear only after six to 12 months, the statement said.
Kim – described as “human scum” – received payments totalling at least $740,000 and was given satellite transceivers and other materials and equipment, it said.
He had multiple contacts with South Korean intelligence personnel, and an accomplice who had a Chinese-sounding name, Xu Guanghai of the Qingdao Nazca Trade Co.
Checks on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information system show that a company of that name was formed on March 7 this year, with a Xu Guanghai named as its legal representative, and business areas including “chemical products”.
No details were given in the ministry statement of how the supposed plot was uncovered, or of Kim’s fate. But in a potential sign of an internal purge, it said that the ministry will “ferret out and mercilessly destroy the terrorists”.
‘Empire of evil’
The lurid accusations come with Pyongyang and Washington at loggerheads over the North’s banned weapons programmes, which have seen it subjected to multiple sets of United Nations Security Council sanctions.
Pyongyang, which says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against invasion, has carried out a series of missile launches and threatened a sixth atomic test, while the administration of new US President Donald Trump has said that military action was an “option on the table” – raising fears of a spiralling conflict.
The alleged plot was a “hideous crime” the security ministry said, and tantamount to “the declaration of a war”.
The statement came hours after the US House of Representatives in Washington voted to broaden US sanctions against the North.
The measure, which now heads for the Senate, also gave the Trump administration 90 days to determine whether Pyongyang should be re-designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, after it was removed from the list in 2008.
The North Korean statement described the US as a state sponsor of terrorism itself, and an “empire of evil”.
Analysts said the accusations could be a pre-emptive attempt to try to dissuade Washington from any attempt at a surgical strike on its leadership, as suggested by some commentators.
The North believes the US and South are seeking to assassinate Kim, said Professor Koh Yu-Hwan of Dongguk University.
It was “unimaginable that individuals can get close enough to Kim to harm him in light of super tight security there”, he told AFP.
But the allegation was also “aimed at keeping its people on their toes and strengthening its grip on them”, and intended “to distance itself from the assassination of Jong-Nam who was killed by a chemical weapon”.
North Korean commandos infiltrated Seoul in January 1968 in a failed attempt to assassinate its then leader Park Chung-Hee. Bullet holes are still visible on a tree above the presidential Blue House.
- © AFP 2017.
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We were always told that “relatively generous” wages were needed to get the best people for the job in banking…ie:- if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
We ended up with monkeys anyway.
We still have the very same monkey’s running the banking system.
Can we pay them peanuts now that we’ve established that they’re monkeys?….or can we actually give the job to someone that can count.
Most of these monkeys should be doing time in prison.
I’ve always wondered about that “Pay peanuts and you’ll get monkeys” theory; Ireland, in terms of the judiciary, banking and politicians really blows that out of the water. Here, we pay big bucks and get gorillas.
You said it Al ca monkeys running the banks and still running them.
@Al Ca. Really sorry but I honestly think you are being very harsh and unfair on primates.
They can repay via a jail sentence
No Richie. You will never repay your debt to the people financially or in any sense.
Will BOI be making amends for its part in inflating the property bubble for the 10 years prior to the crash which threw a generation into enormous debt in order to house themselves?
Will BOI be repaying the interest on the €4.7 billion that Ireland borrowed to pump directly into the bank? Or the €6 billion that NAMA spent in taking the toxic commercial property loans off the bank’s balance sheet? Or the interest on that €6 billion also borrowed?
Will be BOI be reimbursing us for its share of the €20 billion and lost yield that was taken from the National Pension Reserve Fund demanded by Europe before the Troika would lend Ireland the money to bail out the banks?
Will BOI be compensating us for its failure to provide credit to viable business over the past several years causing many of them to collapse where the former employees now draw social welfare instead of contributing tax in a double blow to the exchequer?
Will BOI be making amends for its part in the 7 year recession which the bank collapse triggered throwing hundreds of thousands on the dole and forcing hundreds of thousands to emigrate? Will BOI be making reparation for the vicious cutbacks to our social infrastructure in health, education etc in order to comply with the neo liberal agenda imposed by the Troika who can do so precisely because the bank bailout bankrupted the nation?
BOI will never repay its debt to the Irish people. Ditto for AIB, Anglo, Irish Nationwide and PTSB.
The plan now must be to get PTSB nad AIB into private hands as soon as possible ….the cover-up won’t be com plete until they try to hide behind privacy laws – the same laws in principle that Eejit Enda the Evicter attempts to break today by forcing a legal charge on people to move State assets – (all money collected by the State shall for one fun – Constitution ) our pensions, our wages our dole off balance sheet …
Does he realise how much trouble he is building for himself morally, legally and societally !
That’s the pro0blem with those who worship the Golden Calf – they think they can buy their way out of every problem – They can’t !
Daniel O’Connell -
“There is nothing politically right that is morally wrong.”
You’d know that Boucher didn’t receive the benefit of an Irish Education …..
Yet he refuses to lower the interest rate on variable mortgages. Can you believe this crap????? Only in Ireland could you get away with saying this….incredible!!!!!!! What about the moral position on the variables…..oh wait that’s not a moral issue but a money issue and we don’t care about that..we will rip you offf….sure what can they (the public) do when the minister for finance can do nothing
Why do we have a minister of finance. BANKING TERRORISM!!!
*form one fund …
All of this is designed to keep the narrative flowing and to stop people remembering that the Irish Economy and its banks are based largely on a figure that came out of the Drummer’s rear-end ….
They never speak of it ..and pretend to be economic experts – pretend to be human …
………….and he opens google and types – David Icke Reptilians
These guys are so loco anything is believable at this stage !
Relatively generous.is he taking the
P!ss
The like of him specialise in taking the piss.
Boucher reads from the script. The agreed narrative now among the bankers and mainstream economic commentators is a big “mea culpa, hands up, we made a mistake” as they depart the scene of destruction with bulging pockets and pensions. Or in Boucher’s case, continues to collect a massive salary despite playing a substantial role in breaking BOI and the Irish economy. This is another fraud being played out in front of our eyes at the banking enquiry.
The senior players in central and commercial banking in Ireland across Europe and in the ECB understood completely that the property bubbles in Ireland, Spain etc were unsustainable pyramid schemes. The banking and economic insiders were fully aware that these were bogus booms fuelled by massive credit expansion via the commercial banks and that they would inevitably go bust with a a cataclysmic economic bang as has occurred on numerous occasions in the past in Japan etc.
This capitalist elite also understand however that they benefit disproportionately in both the boom and bust phases of the inherently unstable capitalist economic cycle always at the expense of labour (vast majority). Therefore that elite and their political enablers continually promote policy and measures to inflate the booms and deepen the busts at the expense of the many.
So the booms are fueled by massive credit expansion through the private banks as we saw during the Irish property bubble. This drives up asset prices and profit margins for the plutonomy at a much faster rate than any wage increases. And the 1% big capital owners with superior market information have always known when to get out of the losing plays in time while a complicit media will continue to cheerlead the booms to manipulate the masses until the inevitable crash occurs. (This will sound very familiar to Irish ears).
In the reverse, the supply of money is restricted to deepen and prolong the bust. As we can see under the Austerity program, the ongoing recession and consequent unemployment is being used as a lever to viciously drive down wages and working conditions which also maximizes the gains to capital. In parallel, the national assets (like water) and social support systems (like health) are shredded and opened up for predatory fire sale purchases and privatization to gouge rents going forward and perpetually enrich Denis O Brien and his ilk at the expense of the people.
Do you really expect many people to read a Comment that long?
Nah man too long
Yes Pat. It’s probably a wee bit long for a goldfish though.
A goldfish wouldn’t be able to scroll down to read the comment.
You are clearly are unfamiliar with Waddler’s style; that”s on the more concise side of things actually but, in fairness, there’s a lot of truth in it.
One might raise an eyebrow at those who find comments too long – questions of their stamina may be at play ….
EXCELLENT comment Waddler, and succinct in its points.
Taking the p**** is right.
BOI just flatly denied any possibility of passing on ECB interest cuts to variable mortgages!!
Now we’re supposed to swallow that verbal diarrhoea about financial repayment.
How F’ing stupid does he think we are?!?!
The 20 or so people who could live off his divided wage suggest otherwise
You need to get paid a lot to bring down a country !
Criminal wages for a criminal organisation…..
Time to light the Torches and bring out the Pitchforks with this article
Bit late now Richie!
One of the most hateful of his breed. His comtempt for the democratic process and the general population and their needs is indicatave of how our overlords see us. As long as the banks own Noonan and his clowns Boucher can swagger and sneer..
In line with other banks… ah well tats ok then! Tats!
*Tw@ts
He looks like he has lost a lot of weight , and not in a good way , wonder if he is ok ….
Doctors found a cancerous growth in his colon last year.
A cancerous growth whithin a cancerous growth whithin a cancerous growth — well I’ll be …..
If the waiting list for a cardiologist is 18 months, what is the waiting time to see an oncologist?
The only waiting list he’s on is the one for a 152 merc
Well Bananas like these dont grow on trees. The ol money drives them on makes them stick the knife in entire populations plus it gives them the god complex they need to massage their massive egos and be general boyles on the arse of humanity. Where’s my bonus I gota go to Vegas rent son hookers and blow a suitcase full of coke up my snout oink oink.
Fly my wh@res to North Africa for a jolly xxxx weekend and have the sychophantic press report my jolly jape. Then have the bally hoi poli bail me out, have NAMA shelter me and then reemerge to ride both wh@res and hoi poli again.
We take the streets for gay rights or water charges but we stay home when the real things are happening. ….They talk about mental health when they are the ones who drive us mad. ….
Soo….you don’t think gay rights and water charges are ‘real things’?
They’re but It would be good to see the same strength in others major debates like banks . bailout. Taxes and so on. ..
We are sorry we did this.
We shouldn’t have done that.
Meanwhile, an entire country has gone down the tubes and him and his ilk walk away into the sunset.
What a horrible man this Richard Boucher has been to people in mortgage distress ..’Save the taxpayer’ is his mantra of an excuse ..Pity he didn’t think of that mantra when he wrote to the planners in Dublin City Council over Sean Dunne’s Jury site in ‘BALLSbridge’ .
The Loreal \/\ ankers. Because they are worth it.
Financial repayment will do just fine Ritchie, hand it fecking over
Spot on..and start with the SVR..its the moral thing to do..
Yeah, I’m ok with only the “financial” kind of repayment too.
If Boucher is so keen on repaying us financially maybe BOI could start by paying corporation tax now it’s profitable again with the help of the taxpayer. BOI has been allowed by Noonan to write off all its massive losses during the crash against future profits, meaning it can earn more than €9bn in profits before it pays a penny in corporation tax. Effectively we are bailing out BOI twice, once through €4.7bn in recapitalisation and twice through allowing them to write off that €4.7bn and more in losses against tax. Why is the Journal not reporting this scandal which was raised in the Inquiry today and confirmed by Boucher??
It may have been on this website I was reading last week about the leader in North Korea and one of his party members had a different view on forestry in the country… The guy with the haircut didn’t like what he was hearing and sentence the party member to death… Imagine if Kim Jong_Un was looking after this shower of bankers.
Maybe we should send them over to North Korea as our gift to Lil Kim
What an arrogant P..CK
And you were relatively useless
So was it the Banks that demanded the Government had to guarantee junior bond holders and not Trichet??
Why aren’t the bank’s servicing this debt with post tax profits? Seems insane that lending institutions can default in a way that makes them hypocritical to the very service they provide. There’s only one way this is all going to end and the ‘recovery’ we all have to hear about day in, day out is nothing more than a smoke screen that will soon wear thin amongst the Irish people. The banks have shown no remorse hitting the ordinary joe where it hurts: extortionate account fees, unjustly high interest rates for borrowers, little or no negotiation with those in arrears…etc. They have done nothing but tear a whole in this economy that seems to exhibit traits similar to that of Ozone damage i.e. It could be years before we see the real damage. Individual European countries need to wake up. The dream is now a nightmare and everyone’s still asleep.
Relative to what? your salaries were immoral and outrageous and you still managed to wreak havoc. Prison would be one way to repent
That’s OK then.
Thanks Ritchie.
I bet he won’t be worried about switching on the central heating tonight unlike all the poor pensioners who lost out on BOI investments.
What a Banker!!!!
Banks are lecherous hypocrites
SVR MEETING IN JURYS HOTEL TOMORROW (THURS) EVENING AT 7.30PM. HAVE YOUR SAY RE BANKS AND VARIABLE RATE MORTGAGES.
His attitude seems to be,let the distressed mortgage holders become more and more distressed,the Bank wants its money back so it’s customers must pay every cent back.The fact that there has been a global economic collapse is beside the point !!!!,even though people lost their jobs or had their wages slashed to bail out these pirates.The Government,on the other hand,are,yet again,powerless to act or don’t want to upset the Banks.They have no hang-ups about passing legislation to access our wages or social welfare entitlements to deduct Irish Water bills.
Most obnoxious overpaid man
Will the Banking Enquiry interview Mark Duffy Bank of Scotland, the inventor of the 100% mortgage?
One of the most basic set of principles learned at the outset by students studying for banking exams is the crucial importance of bank solvency and prudential risk diversification. No need for elaborate bank enquiries to establish that our failed bank leaders, each and every one, were greedily incompetent and simply were not up to the job, even on a most basic level.
The bank borrow money at a rate of 0.025% and lends it out at over 4% a great profit margin!
Why not reduce the margin?
“Error in judgment” me hole. I’ll remember that one next time I forget to pay a bill. Might get me off the hook with the tax man.
If you have a Gun
You can rob a Bank
If you have a Bank
You can rob EVERYONE …
Financial Predators:-
- Banks Max your Debt
- Landlords Max your Rent
- Politicians Max your Tax
have your say