S Korea arrests suspected spy from North- Agency

Seoul, Aug 21: South Korea has arrested a suspected N.Korean spy trying to enter the country at a time when tensions are running high on the peninsula, Yonhap news agency reported today.

The arrest report comes after North Korea defied international warnings and test fired seven missiles on July 5. News reports from the United States last week said North Korea may be preparing to conduct its first nuclear weapons test.

South Korean intelligence agencies were not immediately available to comment on the arrest report.

Yonhap reported that a source familiar with intelligence matters said the suspect was a 48-year-old North Korean with the family name Jeong.

He was arrested early this month and is expected to be indicted later this week. He is the first North Korean spy arrested trying to enter the country since 2003, the source said.

The source said the National Intelligence Service has exposed eight North and South Koreans for spying for the North since the current administration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun took office in early 2003.

Fear of North Korean spies ran high in South Korea for several decades following the 1950-1953 Korean War, especially of North Korean agents were who trained for armed infiltration.

Armed North Korean agents tried to make their way into the South's presidential Blue House in the late 1960s.

Concerns about armed North Korean agents started to subside over the past several years as engagement between the two Koreas has increased and democracy took root in the South, which had once been ruled by military-backed leaders.

Reuters