Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high for weeks, driven by the Trump administration's more confrontational approach to the country as well as North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile programs.
He said North Korea's aim could be to divert attention from the use of VX nerve gas to assassinate the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong Un at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February, or to influence South Korea's May 9 election.
"A ugly terrorists' group, which the Central Intelligence Agency and the IS infiltrated into the DPRK on the basis of covert and meticulous preparations to commit state-sponsored terrorism against the supreme leadership of the DPRK by use of bio-chemical substance, has been recently detected".
US President Donald Trump has promised to "solve" North Korea and stop it developing nuclear weapons.
"The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the USA and the Intelligence Service (IS) of south Korea, hotbed of evils in the world, hatched a vicious plot to hurt the supreme leadership of the DPRK", the statement published by North Korea's KCNA news agency said.
It did not mention Kim Jong-un by name, but he is widely referred to as the supreme leader. Such an operation would be extremely hard to prepare and carry out successfully. Kim - described as "human scum" - received payments totalling at least $740,000 and was given satellite transceivers and other materials and equipment, it said.
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North Korea's Ministry of State Security claimed the substances employed in the alleged attack could be used remotely and with a delayed effect.
The North Korean statement said the plan had "been put into the extremely serious phase of implementation". The South Korean presidential election is scheduled to be held on May 9.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday that Washington was working on more sanctions against North Korea if it takes steps that merit a new response. The North Korean statement described the USA as a state sponsor of terrorism itself, and an "empire of evil". It was "unimaginable that individuals can get close enough to Kim to harm him in light of supertight security there", he told AFP.
The 1,800-word report did not specify when the alleged assassination plot was stopped. North Korean commandos infiltrated Seoul in Jan 1968 in a failed attempt to assassinate its then leader Park Chung-Hee.
Photos from the North's state media showed Kim laughing as his special forces troops attacked what appeared to be a full-scale mock-up of the Blue House before setting it on fire.
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