South Korea said today it was on guard for the possibility North Korea may try to snatch its citizens overseas or conduct “terrorist acts” after the North accused it of abducting North Korean workers from a restaurant in China.
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The statement came after North Korea’s failed attempts to fire missiles this week, and days before Kim Jong Un’s regime is scheduled to hold its first ruling party congress in decades. It has also intensified its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles since its fourth nuclear test in January.
South Korea has denied any involvement in Kim’s case.
Pyongyang citizens “fervently welcomed participants of the congress who have given all their patriotic passion.as a new generation of true warriors of Juche revolution under the leadership of dear comrade Kim Jong Un”, North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on Tuesday.
According to reports from sources inside the secretive nation, North Korea has banned weddings and funerals ahead of the next party congress.
“This congress means everything for Kim Jong-Un”.
North Korea released a video of Kim in March, confessing to his alleged crimes and calling them “unpardonable”.
North Korea also claimed that U.S. soldiers had encouraged South Korean military members to take aim at their troops, which North Korea branded “a risky provocation”. It followed that with a string of missile tests in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
State prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence for Kim.
It was also claimed that United States soldiers had encouraged fully armed South Korean troops to aim at their adversaries, which North Korea described as a “dangerous provocation”.
The United States and China agreed on the statement but its adoption was delayed after Russian Federation requested more time to consider the text, diplomats said.
The Defense Ministry said in the report that Pyongyang could wage another strategic provocation such as a nuclear test or missile launch around the time of the Workers’ Party congress.
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Aside from Kim, there are five other foreigners detained in North Korea.
