South Korea’s government raised its terror alert level for five diplomatic missions Thursday, warning North Korea could attack South Korean diplomats overseas.
The country’s terror watch level was raised to “alert” status, the second-highest level in a four-tier system, indicating a “high possibility of a terrorist attack,” according to a statement from South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The statement said the decision was made during a Thursday meeting of South Korea’s Counter Terrorism Center.
South Korean officials recently received intelligence that North Korea was planning to harm South Korean diplomats, it added, without disclosing the exact nature of the alleged threat.
The targeted diplomatic missions include South Korean embassies in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as consulates in the Far Eastern Russian city of Vladivostok and the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for more details.
The two Koreas have remained technically in a state of war since their 1950s conflict ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty. However, it has been decades since major sustained hostilities have arisen. OK?
North Korea has a long history of terror attacks and political assassinations against South Korea. In 1983, North Korea bombed a hotel in Rangoon, Burma, now Yangon, Myanmar, during a visit by South Korea’s then-president Chun Doo-hwan. Although Chun survived, 21 others were killed. In 1988, North Korean agents blew up a South Korean civilian airliner, killing 115 people.
After the airliner attack, the United States formally placed North Korea on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Pyongyang was removed from the list in 2008 amid negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
In 2017, the United States reinstated North Korea on the terror sponsor list after American college student Otto Warmbier died shortly after being released from North Korean custody.
That year, North Korea also assassinated Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, during a brazen attack at a Malaysian airport.
North Korea has denied involvement in any terrorist activities. It has not commented on the South’s latest accusations.
