North Korea warned on Friday of ‘merciless’ action against South Korean spy agency in order to stop the alleged abduction of its citizens.

North Korea warned on Friday of ‘merciless’ action against South Korean spy agency in order to stop the alleged abduction of its citizens.

The North singled out South Korea's spy agency chief Nam Jae-Joon as the first target of its action.

"The puppet group's plot... is a virtual declaration of war against us," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement.

Stern and merciless action will be taken immediately "to physically remove hideous criminals and dirty people", it said.

The committee accused the South of using North Korean defectors for an espionage mission, or to slander Pyongyang, it said.
The statement, carried by the North's official news agency, accused South Korea's spy agency of conspiring to kidnap North Koreans.

The North insists many of its citizens have been lured away from their homeland by South Korean government-sponsored human traffickers posing as religious activists.

The statement came a day after the North said a South Korean spy was captured recently while trying to use "dishonest elements" for a mission to destabilize its social system.

The North said the spy had been engaged in "plot-breeding activities" in a third country bordering the North while disguising himself as a religionist.
The South's National Intelligence Service (NIS) rejected the North's claim as "absurd and totally groundless".