S.Korea files spying charges against N.Korean man

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean prosecutors have filed formal spying charges against a North Korean man who is also believed to be involved in a bid to maim the eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, a report said on Tuesday.

A prosecution service official confirmed the spying charges against the unidentified man, saying he had arrived in South Korea in March posing as a refugee who had fled North Korea via China.

But the official declined to comment on a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that the man had confessed to being part of a plot to stage a hit-and-run car accident in China in 2010 targetting Mr Kim's eldest son Jong Nam.

Mr Kim Jong Nam fell out of favour with his father following a botched attempt in 2001 to secretly enter Japan using a fake passport and visit Disneyland.