Will There Be A War With North Korea? U.S. Accused Of Kim Jong Un Assassination Attempt

In a jarring report released Friday by state news outlet Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea accused the United States and South Korea of attempting to assassinate Kim Jong Un with a biochemical weapon. The report alleged that the CIA, in conjunction with South Korea and a North Korean citizen identified only as Kim, attempted to kill the nation’s leader at a recent military parade.

The report claimed that U.S. officials bribed the North Korean citizen, who it called “human scum,” with $750,000 in payments to assassinate Kim using biochemical substances.

“This heinous crime, which was recently uncovered and smashed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a kind of terrorism against not only the DPRK but the justice and conscience of humankind and an act of mangling the future of mankind,” North Korea’s ministry of state security said in a statement.

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The 1,800-word report did not specify when the alleged assassination plot was stopped. It claimed the plot was conceived back in 2014 by South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies.

While the alleged assassination attempt was unable to be verified by any media outlets in the U.S., it came at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. The Kim regime has been testing ballistic missiles in recent days, while the U.S. began installing a defense system in South Korea that would ideally destroy missiles launched from the North before they hit their intended target.

“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” President Donald Trump told Reuters in April. “We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult.”

Vice President Mike Pence cautioned that the country’s long-standing policy of “strategic patience” toward North Korea was over during a visit to South Korea last month. Both nations have continued to lob threats of a pre-emptive strike should either get word that the other was planning any military action.

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North Korea warned of an impending cataclysm should relations between the two countries reach a boiling point. Recent satellite images showed extensive infrastructure being built on artificial islands in the Yellow Sea and analysts suggested that the type and make of many of the buildings likely mean they’ll be used for military operations like missile launches.

“By relentlessly bringing in a number of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean peninsula, the U.S. is gravely threatening the peace and safety and driving the situation to the brink of a nuclear war,” North Korean officials said in a statement in April, according to KCNA. “This has created a dangerous situation in which thermos-nuclear war may break out at any moment.”