Poison-needle ‘assassin‘ held

South Korean authorities have arrested a North Korean former commando on suspicion of plotting to kill an outspoken critic of the Pyongyang regime with a poison-tipped needle.

Park Sang-hak is an activist who has launched propaganda leaflets into the North in balloons. Named only as Ahn, the arrested man was described as a North Korean defector carrying a poison needle, a device used in Soviet-era assassinations.