S. Korea accused of intelligence failure

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- The South Korean government has come under opposition attack for alleged intelligence failure relating to the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The main opposition Democratic Unity Party called on the government of President Lee Myung-bak to fire top intelligence and diplomatic officials, saying the government wasn't prepared for the news of Kim's death, which occurred Saturday but wasn't announced by the North Korean state media until Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Lee reportedly was at a birthday party just hours before the announcement of Kim's death but immediately summoned an emergency security meeting, the report said.

"The National Intelligence Service has degenerated into a laughing stock," an opposition party spokesman was quoted as saying. "They are now derided as 'Neighborhood Intelligence Service' after demonstrating their chronic lack of intelligence despite a massive budget amounting to 1 trillion won ($864 million)."

The Journal said South Korean media also have criticized the authorities over the incident.

Government officials including Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik agreed that intelligence on the North needs to be strengthened, the report said.

Analysts told the Journal besides South Korea, the United States also didn't seem to have known about Kim's death prior to the official announcement. South Korean officials said China too has said it had no prior knowledge.

The incident points to the tight control of information in North Korea, the Journal said.