Hand over would be assassins of Kim Jong Un: North Korea to US

Washington, May 12 (IANS) A week after alleging that the US and South Korea had conspired to assassinate country's supreme leader, North Korea on Thursday asked Washington to hand over would-be killers.

Last week North Korea alleged that in 2014, the CIA and South Korea's National Intelligence Service conspired to assassinate Kim Jong Un with a biochemical weapon, The Washington Post reported.

The North Korean Ministry of State Security described how the alleged nations "ideologically corrupted and bribed" a North Korean citizen working in Russia.

North Korea said, "The alleged agent would return home to North Korea, wait for a public event, then use some kind of poisonous substance on top regime officials."

Pyongyang suggested that while South Korean agents provided satellite communication equipment and money to this alleged would-be killer, the US provided a biochemical substance -- a delayed-action radioactive or "nano poisonous" gas.

However, North Korea did not show any evidence on how the alleged plot was foiled.

South Korean officials called the claim "groundless" and the CIA declined to comment.

While last week North Korea asked the US and South Korea to "execute" those involved in the purported plot, on Thursday, it demanded that the countries hand over the "terror suspects."

In this regard, North Korea said it would deal with two US citizens detained by its security service in accordance with the law.

"The Central Prosecutor's Office will ask for the handover of those criminals and prosecute them under the relevant laws," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol told foreign diplomats and reporters in Pyongyang, according to China's Xinhua News Agency.