North Korean State media, KCNA, has claimed that the CIA and the South Korean Intelligence Service (IS) conspired together to assassinate the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. North Korea’s Ministry of State Security released a statement condemning the imperialist powers of the United States and others:
The Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. and the Intelligence Service (IS) of South Korea, hotbeds of evils in the world, hatched a vicious plot to hurt the supreme leadership of the DPRK and those acts have been put into the extremely serious phase of implementation after crossing the threshold of the DPRK.
Apparently, the CIA and IS bribed a North Korean national, surnamed Kim, to carry out the plot and conduct terrorist actions within North Korea. KCNA said this mysterious “Kim” was radicalized while working in Russia and was paid $40,000, provided with a satellite transmitter-receiver, and given instructions to use “biochemical substances including radioactive substance and Nano poisonous substance” to assassinate Kim Jong Un. The terrorist group, they claim, cannot succeed in this “pipe-dream.”
As Reuters reports, North Korea’s media has often made outlandish threats and accusations about the United States and South Korea, especially as excuses for the North to continue their aggressive and reclusive stance. It helps further the narrative that the rest of the world is out to get North Korea, allowing the regime to legitimize their power.
This would be one in a long series of claims and threats made by North Korea. The situation in the region is tenuous, and the threat of war looms ever on the horizon. Liberty Nation has kept you informed thus far and would be remiss if we did not report on this new development, even if the claims are outlandish.
Or are they?
CIA director Mike Pompeo met with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service this week, and South Korea has admitted that they have plans in place to kill the North Korean Leader, both conventional and otherwise. This would not be the first time that the CIA has conducted assassination plots on totalitarian leaders who threaten U.S. security and interests. Is this instance another exploding cigar?
In April, the National Security Council presented President Donald with options on how to respond to the North Korean nuclear threat. Unsurprisingly, the assassination of senior leadership was one of the options discussed. Assassinating NK leadership and those responsible for commanding a nuclear strike would cut the head off the snake, but such a move is fraught with peril.
The core unknown to any regime decapitation is “what happens next?” In previous cases of U.S. intervention, the United States knew the players and had a plan for what would happen. Second and third order effects, however, often can’t be determined during the planning phases of such an operation. From Iran to Chile, the U.S. sponsored regime changes had disastrous consequences further down the road. Dictatorships and autocracies friendly to U.S. interests often faced revolution and political strife.
Situations like Iran and Chile were operations where we had most of the information readily available. North Korea poses a unique problem. Due to the country’s isolation, the amount we know about “what happens next” is incredibly limited.
If North Korea’s claims are not simply another case of a petulant child screaming for attention, but an actual plot against the North’s leader, the administration needs to be prepared for the second and third order effects of toppling a regime with three generations of iron-fisted power and control over every facet of the country.
Of course, we could always just send in Seth Rogen and James Franco.
