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By Jun Ji-hye
The South Korean military is strengthening its security in preparation for the possibility that North Korea may conduct military provocations to divert attention away from the murder of its leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother, officials said Tuesday.
"We have strengthened our security and surveillance to better counter the North's possible provocations," a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said on condition of anonymity.
He noted that the North Korean military is conducting its regular winter drills and there are no unusual movement as of now. But he added, "We are fully prepared against all contingencies."
Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was killed Feb. 13, after two women seemingly attacked him with poison as he waited to board a flight at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The apparent assassination has been driving the North into a corner as it has been taking criticism for the Kim regime's brutality based on the suspicion that the repressive state had engineered the murder.
The South Korean government said it seemed "certain" that the North was behind the murder, citing the announcement by Malaysian police, Sunday, that at least eight North Korean nationals have been involved in the case.
Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn called government officials Monday to keenly monitor the possibility of the reclusive state committing terrorist acts on South Korean people, urging officials to make full preparation through cooperation between relevant organizations including the counterterrorism center.
South Korea has also strengthened personal protection of North Korean defectors living here including Thae Young-ho who was a senior diplomat based in London.
Since the murder, which followed the North's launch of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile, calls have been growing in the U.S. Congress for relisting the reclusive state as a state sponsor of terrorism.
"Once upon a time, the United States had North Korea on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list," Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) said during a floor meeting last week.
"It is time to put little Kim back on that list because he is a world terrorist and a threat to world peace, and he has earned that distinction."
