There are fears North Korean special forces could kidnap Westerners in South Korea and hold them hostage if the US attacks.
Ung-gil Lee, who defected to South Korea after serving in a clandestine unit for six years, told The Mail yesterday the squads had been trained to capture foreign diplomats and tourists.
“The best case [for his old unit] would be to round them up and take them north, but if not they will take the foreigners hostage in South Korea,” the 37-year-old, who now works in Seoul, said.
He said US President Donald Trump should be wary of retaliation over the failed missile attempt, labelling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “worse than all the evil dictators of Libya, Iraq and Syria combined”.
Mr Lee joined the specialised forces at just 17 after a year of indoctrination and “re-education”. He claimed he was part of a land and air group, whose role was to direct raids on the South.
He said soldiers memorised locations, phone numbers and car number plates for major embassies, and carried deadly chemicals for possible suicide missions if plans went wrong.
It comes as the US slammed North Korea’s latest missile test as a provocation, insisting it is working closely with China to resolve a crisis that Washington sees as reaching a critical stage.
Overnight, Mr Trump tweeted: “Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice”.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/853604334944354305
Amid broader fears that North Korea may again test a nuclear bomb, the Pentagon said yesterday’s missile launch was a failure, with the weapon blowing up almost immediately after its early morning takeoff near Sinpo on North Korea's east coast.
Following the test, US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told ABC News: "There's an international consensus now - including the Chinese and the Chinese leadership - that this is a situation that just can't continue."
Amid sharply heightened tensions, Mr McMaster said the US and allies were studying all actions "short of a military option," though the Trump administration has not ruled that out.
North Korea watchers remained on high alert, as leader Kim Jong-un was reportedly poised to conduct a sixth nuclear test.
Vice President Mike Pence, who arrived in Seoul yesterday, assailed the missile test as a "provocation" and assured South Korea of Washington's full support against the threat from its volatile neighbour.
Mr Pence is in Seoul for talks on curbing the North's weapons programs.
"This morning's provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face each and every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world," Mr Pence told US military families at an Easter dinner, at the start of a 10-day Asia tour.
Some 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea.
President Donald Trump has ordered a naval strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, to the region, though the vessels remain a long way from the peninsula.
Mr McMaster repeatedly stated that China -- North Korea's key ally -- is increasingly concerned about the reclusive communist state's behavior.
The new consensus is "that this problem is coming to a head. And so it's time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully," Mr McMaster said.
'A threat to all people'
Mr McMaster said Mr Trump had directed US military, diplomatic and intelligence officials to provide him with options -- in concertation with regional allies including China -- that could be used "if the North Korea regime refuses to denuclearize."
He called Kim "a threat to all people in the region, and globally as well," but cautioned that Trump "is clearly comfortable making tough decisions."
A White House foreign policy adviser, briefing reporters on the plane that carried Mr Pence to Seoul, was asked what steps China had committed to when President Xi Jinping met recently with Trump in Florida.
"There were a number of steps that were discussed," the briefer said on condition of anonymity, adding that when China recently turned back ships bringing North Korean coal, it was a "good first step."
"China is the key," Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Sunday on NBC.
"They can stop this if they want to because of their control over the North Korean economy."