South Korea spy service says North preparing attacks

PanARMENIAN.Net - South Korea's spy agency has told ruling party officials that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered preparations for launching attacks on South Korea, in the latest sign of high tensions on the Korean peninsula after the North's recent nuclear test and missile launch, the Associated Press reports.

One official from the Saenuri Party who attended Thursday, February 18's closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service says Kim's spy agency has begun work to implement his order to "actively muster capabilities" to launch cyber and other attacks on South Korea.

The Saenuri official refused to say whether the briefing discussed how the information has been obtained. He requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to media on the briefing.

The spy agency said the attacks could target anti-Pyongyang activists, defectors and government officials, AP says. The comments come a day after four of the most advanced U.S. fighter jets flew over South Korea in a clear show of force against North Korea amid a festering standoff over its nuclear and missile ambitions.

The stealthy, high-tech F-22 planes capable of sneaking past radar undetected landed at Osan Air Base near Seoul after the flyover escorted by other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets.

Pyongyang will likely view the arrival of the planes flown from a U.S. base in Japan as a threat as they are a display of U.S. airpower apparently aimed at showing what the United States can do to defend its ally South Korea from potential aggression from North Korea.

The U.S. military would not say how long the F-22s will be deployed in South Korea.