Agents from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network visited South Korea several times in recent years scouting for targets, media reports said in Seoul, citing a closed-door intelligence briefing to members of parliament. The English language Korea Times newspaper reported that potential targets included airports and US facilities, which prompted the South Korean government to declare an anti-terrorism alert. The report did not specify details of the alert, including the date or time. The al-Qaeda activities were revealed in a National Intelligence Service (NIS) briefing to South Korean lawmakers on Monday, the media reports said. NIS officials declined to confirm the contents of the confidential briefing.However, the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee was told that an agent of the al-Qaeda network, which is blamed for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, had examined security provisions of South Korean airlines and US military forces based in the country. Another network member, suspected of having taken part in the bomb attack on the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998, had visited South Korea two or three times since 1999, the Korea Times said. According to Yonhap news agency, one agent lived for six months in South Korea until March 1998, working illegally for a small manufacturer north of Seoul. Al-Qaeda also searched for information on South Korean security on the Internet, according to the briefing, details of which were relayed to the media by an opposition lawmaker. "The al-Qaeda network is increasingly turning its attention to Northeast Asian countries, amplifying chances of terror in the region," the lawmaker was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
That’d likely be a reference to the Chechens and assorted al-Qaeda who’ve recently shown up in Japan. |