North Korea arrests American ‘spy’ in alleged assassination plot

North Korea has arrested a U.S. citizen it accuses of planning an assassination attempt against leader Kim Jong Un. Officials named the alleged assassin as Kim Hak Song, a U.S. citizen who works at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. He is the second university employee detained by North Korean officials in the last week. Pyongyang now holds four Americans in its prisons. According to state-run media accounts, the CIA converted Kim Hak Song into a “terrorist full of repugnance and revenge against the supreme leadership.” The Ministry of State Security vowed to “ferret out to the last one” the plot’s organizers, conspirators, and followers, suggesting Kim Jong Un might be preparing another purge of officials he considers a threat to his leadership. Media outlets promised a “Korean-style anti-terrorist attack” in retaliation for the alleged attempt to kill Kim.