Seoul: South Korea's spy agencies came under fire Monday for an intelligence failure over the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, with Pyongyang breaking the news to the world two days after it happened.
The secretive North said Monday morning there would be a special televised announcement at noon (0300 GMT) but gave no details.
Seoul government sources quoted by Yonhap news agency said there was no inside intelligence that the announcement would be of the leader's death.
South Korea 'in the dark'
President Lee Myung-Bak was in the dark until the North's TV released the news that the leader had died of a heart attack Saturday morning.
Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin was briefing legislators in parliament on a defence reform bill when Pyongyang dropped its bombshell. He rushed back to his ministry.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was on a tour of a front-line unit when the news came, Yonhap reported.
'Our intelligence network failed'
"Our intelligence network failed to discover the death of North Korea's top leader over the last two days. It is a direct example of holes in intelligence-gathering on the North," said Lee Yong-Sup, spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Unity Party.
A lawmaker from the ruling Grand National Party said there was "no room for excuses" about being unaware of Kim's death for two days, despite the North's secretiveness.
In May the intelligence services came under fire for failing to obtain accurate information about the North Korean leader's trip to China.
Officials said Kim's son and heir apparent was making the trip while in fact it was his father.
