N. Korea claims Kim Jong Il slay plot

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- North Korea says it has arrested an agent it claims was sent by South Korea to assassinate the North's reclusive leader, Kim Jong Il.

Pyongyang says the man, who is now allegedly under arrest, crossed the border earlier this year and had been planning to use poison to kill Kim after receiving training in South Korea, the BBC reported Saturday.

South Korea has denied any involvement in the alleged plot, which comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two Koreas. Pyongyang has cut back on contacts between the two countries as a protest against what it calls the hard-line policies of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

North Korea made its allegations Thursday via its official news agency, KNCA, the BBC said. Pyongyang says that the man, named Ri, was under orders from South Korea's intelligence agency, saying, "The organization sent him speech and acoustic sensing and pursuit devices for tracking the movement of the top leader and even violent poison."

"This has nothing to do with us," a South Korean intelligence agency official told reporters.

Kim, 66, is reportedly in ill health after suffering from one or more strokes.