S.Korea minister denies reports of North's assassination plans

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin on Thursday denied media reports that North Korea was attempting to assassinate him, Yonhap news agency said. "That is not true," he said at a meeting with members of the parliamentary defense committee. A report in the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper last week quoted a security source as saying military and intelligence officials were trying to determine the number of would-be assassins, and whether they were North Korean agents sent by Pyongyang or foreign nationals who entered the South from a third country under a North Korean order.Kim has been reportedly escorted by armed military police officers in plain clothes when venturing outside his office. Since taking the post last December, Kim has taken a tough stance on North Korea over its deadly provocations in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans. The former Army general has urged South Korean forces to respond without delay to any future North Korean provocations. Pyongyang has dubbed Kim an "anti-North Korea confrontation maniac" and a "traitor."