Cloak and Dagger From North Korea
BLITZER: North Korean spies certainly operate in the shad dose, but when we see what they're up to, the plots can be stunning. The latest was a plan to kill defectors in cold blood. CNN's Paula Hancocks was given this exclusive look.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): An assassination attempt foiled. A North Korean spy is arrested on the streets of Seoul. This was a year ago. And this is the first time South Korean intelligence officials are showcasing the weapons, exclusively to</s>CNN. (on camera): So how does this work?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This poison needle was made to look like a ballpoint pen. There is a tube inside here. In order to activate it, we have to twist it towards the right three to four times and then press the top part like this.</s>HANCOCKS: If you're shot by this pen, what happens to you?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It would cause muscle paralysis very quickly, which would lead to suffocation and death.</s>HANCOCKS (voice-over): The second pen shoots a poison-filled bullet, which penetrates the skin. The powdered poison is then released. (on camera): These pens look like they belong in a James Bond movie. Is it new technology or is this quite old, quite basic technology?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These pen weapons are not new. North Korean spies have had this technology for about 10 years. But this flashlight is new. I've never seen this weapon before. If you look at the front, there are three holes. There was a bullet in each hole and here is the trigger. This is currently loaded and dangerous. Two bullets remain.</s>HANCOCKS (voice-over): Forensics experts fired one bullet to test the gun disguised as a flashlight. It was accurate and deadly and almost impossible to identify as a weapon. When police arrested the would-be assassin, he was carrying all three weapons, none had been fired. This man was his target, defector and anti-Pyongyang activist, Park (inaudible), renowned in South Korea for sending anti-regime propaganda leaflets across the border in balloons. He was due to meet the would-be assassin who claimed he wanted to fund his activism. South Korean intelligence agents stopped him at the last minute.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I didn't believe they would try and kill me on the crowded streets of Seoul. I thought the national intelligence service was overreacting.</s>HANCOCKS: We showed Park the weapons intended to kill him. He hadn't seen them before in such detail and seemed shocked.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You would notice the gun, but these weapons are so innocuous, you could easily kill someone. I would have been killed instantly.</s>HANCOCKS: Park knows he's at the top of North Korea's hit list and has (inaudible) police protection. Having seen the weapons intended to kill him, he says he knows there will be more assassination attempts, but he will not stop his activism. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.