The media in Seoul are reporting that the communist North has sent an assassination squad to kill the South Korean defence minister.

Defence minister Kim Kwan-jin is reportedly being targeted for his tough stance against Pyongyang.

The JoongAng daily newspaper in Seoul is reporting that South Korean and US intelligence authorities have discovered the North sent an assassination team to kill Mr Kim.

The daily quotes an unnamed official as saying it is unclear if Pyongyang directly dispatched the squad, hired foreigners to do the job, or is using North Korean spies living in the South.

The North has a history of assassination attempts, the most successful being a 1983 bomb attack in Burma targeting the visiting South Korean president which killed several South Korean ministers.