| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Al-Qaeda has targeted South Korea since 1994 |
| 2004-10-06 |
| Uri Party lawmaker Choi Sung said Tuesday that South Korea has been targeted by international terrorist organizations on at least eight occasions since 1994. During an audit hearing at the Foreign Ministry and in an interview with reporters, Choi said that planes bound for Seoul were targeted for attack by Al-Qaida in 1994. According to a book written by an FBI supervisor, the terrorist group as part of its Project Bojinka was to simultaneously blow up 11 airplanes, including some bound for Seoul. Choi added that Project Bojinka was explained again in a report on the 9/11 terrorist attack, released by the Bush administration earlier this year. Based on information he acquired from a local intelligence agency, Choi claims that Al-Qaida number three Khalid Sheikh Mohammed once boarded a flight to Seoul from Manila in 1995 to assess airline security. In another case, Nizar Naouar, the man who executed a suicide bombing attack against Jewish synagogue in Tunisia in April, 2002, was ordered by an Al-Qaida military officer in 1999 to infiltrate Seoul to watch U.S. military movements in Korea. Choi said that a foreign intelligence agency informed the domestic intelligence agency of those Al-Qaida activities. Based on a book by a former UN anti-terror official, Japanese police discovered that a member of Al-Qaida had infiltrated Seoul for a month in August, 2001 to gather information on the country. The lawmaker said that ships delivering military supplies to the Zayitun unit in Iraq, airplanes traveling between Korea and the U.S., the U.S. Embassy in Korea and Korean embassies in the Arab region are vulnerable to possible terrorist attacks in the future. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |