North Korea calls for execution of South Korea’s Park Park Geun-hye
Park Geun-hye

Park Geun-hye

North Korea said it has issued a standing order for the execution of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her spy chief for what it said was a plot to assassinate its leader, and has demanded that South Korea hand the pair over.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday “revelation showed” Park had masterminded a plot to execute its “supreme leadership” — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — in 2015 and it was imposing the “death penalty on traitor Park Geun-hye” and her spy chief Lee Byung-ho.

KCNA did not disclose the source of the “revelation” but a Japanese newspaper reported this week that Park approved a plan in 2015 to overturn the North Korean regime of leader Kim Jong-un.

Park was removed in March over a corruption scandal and is in detention in South Korea while on trial.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency (NIS) said it was “unpardonable” that North Korea made threats against its citizens and said the news report of a plot to kill Kim Jong-un “had no grounds”.

“We declare at home and abroad that we will impose the death penalty on traitor Park Geun-hye and ex-director of the puppet intelligence service . . . criminals of hideous state-sponsored terrorism who hatched and pressed for the heinous plot to hurt the supreme leadership of the DPRK,” KCNA said.

“We declare that in case the US and the South Korean puppet forces again attempt at hideous state-sponsored terrorism targeting the supreme leadership … we will impose summary punishment without advance notice.”

KCNA said the statement was issued jointly by North Korea’s Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of People’s Security and the Central Public Prosecutors Office.

The NIS responded by dismissing Pyongyang’s message as “groundless,” insisting Seoul will not tolerate threats against its citizens, according to local news agency Yonhap.

In May, North Korea accused the US Central Intelligence Agency and South Korea’s spy agency of another plot to assassinate its “supreme leadership” with a biochemical weapon. At that time, it also demanded the handover of former NIS chief Lee.

South Korea’s former president is currently facing a corruption trial over a scandal that ignited mass protests and led to her downfall.

There are 18 charges against Park, the country’s first democratically elected leader to be removed from office, including extortion, bribery and abuse of power.

She could be imprisoned for life if convicted.

Meanwhile, the frequent tests and growing sophistication of North Korean missiles is prompting the Japanese government and the general public to think carefully about civil defence. What if Pyongyang actually did fire missiles at a major Japanese city?

An opinion poll published by the Japan News Network at the beginning of May found that 90 percent of the public admitted feeling worried about North Korea and 54 percent said that they were greatly worried.

The conservative government of Shinzo Abe, has tried to respond to these fears in part by giving assurances that it is working hard to fulfil its duty to defend the nation.

There were certainly mixed reviews when Tokyo Metro, a subway company that serves millions of commuters in the Japanese capital, shut down all of its train lines for about 10 minutes on the morning of April 29 in response to news reports that North Korea had fired a missile.

While some commentators appreciated the abundance of caution shown by the company, others pointed out that even in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, which is much closer to the danger zone, no such measures have ever been taken.

This criticism led Tokyo Metro to quickly change its company policy. In the future, the subway trains will be halted only if an official warning is issued through the J-Alert system of the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA), and not in response to media reports.

The J-Alert system is a fundamental pillar of Japan’s civil defence measures. First launched in 2007, the system involves the FDMA sending out a warning signal via satellite that is to be received by Japanese local governments, which in turn warn the general public about the emergency through loudspeakers and other broadcasts.

By 2014, all local governments throughout the nation were provided with the necessary receivers and were woven into the J-Alert system.

Some local governments are now beginning to organise public drills.

So far, drills involving the public seem to be occurring only in a handful of regional cities. A visit to the disaster preparation section of Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, which includes the Imperial Palace and the seat of the national government, discovered little evidence of any special missile defence preparations.

Most recently, governing party politician Ryota Takeda has been leading the Study Team for Civil Protection. – AFP

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