North Korean Assassination Weapons: Poison Pens, Flashlight Gun used by Korean Assassin in terror plot foiled by intelligence officer. Here is how they work. (Photo: CNN/Youtube Screenshot)

North Korean assassination weapons? Poison pens and flashlight gun could be among the deadly, James Bond-style devices reported to have been used in an assassination plot against Park Sang-hak, an erstwhile worker in the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League whose father urged him and his family to defect to North Korea. Though the assassination attempt by the North Korean assassin was foiled by intelligence officers, a fascination with the weapons remains-- especially with names as catchy as the poison pen and the flashlight gun.

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Though it may seem like something out of the 007 franchise, or Inspector Gadget at his most murderous, the poison pen, designed to look like an innocuous Parker ballpoint, is actually the most lethal of the weapons used by the North Korean Assassin. The poison pen contains a needle laced with lethal venom, and when used, the weapon fires a poison-filled bullet which pierces through your skin-- making assassination for the South Korean exile all but certain, were it not for the efforts of the intelligence committee who foiled the attempt.

Of the North Korean Assassination Weapons used, the second is far deadlier, even if its lack of subtlety belies its ability to get the job done. What this weapon lacks in Flemingesque style, it makes up for in being able to shoot you. To anyone who doesn't know better, the weapon looks just like a flashlight. Upon further inspection, one would discover that the device is actually a flashlight gun that can contain put to three bullets.

The final weapon? Another poison pen, this one applying its deadly effect from close range. With the slightest prick, the North Korean assassin hoped to use this weapon to kill Sang-hak by enducing death first from muscle paralysis, then suffocation. And all it would take is a single, innocuous, passing swipe.

CNN sop with an intelligence official about the weapons, and while he recognized both of poison pens, he claimed that the flashlight was a brand new development.

"I've never seen this weapon," he told CNN, "if you look at the front, there are three holes, there was a bullet in each hole and here is the trigger. This is currently loaded and dangerous, two bullets remained."

Sang-hak, the North Korean assassins intended target, was aghast when he was shown the weapons.

"You'd notice a gun, but these weapons are so innocuous, you can easily kill someone, I'd be dead immediately."

And though he is shocked, Sang-hak will not stop sending anti-North Korean propaganda leaflet across the border with the aide of balloons. It's the act of rebellion that probably saw him the target of the assassination plot in the first place.

Sang-hak claims that the erstwhile assassin came to him after having expressed an interest in funding his activism. He planned to assassinate the propaganda artist in public.

"I didn't believe they'd try and kill me on the crowded streets of Seoul, I thought the NIS was over-reacting," said Sang-hak.