U.S. Report Claims North Korea is Producing Pathogens for Germ Warfare Program

U.S. Report Claims North Korea is Producing Pathogens for Germ Warfare Program

The last time we reported on North Korea at Legal Insurrection, the rogue nation had detained a U.S. soldier after he supposedly crossed the DMZ line without authorization.

It’s been relatively quiet since that time, but it does appear the North Koreans have been busy.

A US State Department report claims North Korea is producing viruses and bacteria for its germ warfare program and already has a significant arsenal, including “poison pens.”

In their latest assessment of Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction, the US said the mysterious state ruled by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has developed sprays and ‘poison pens’ which can spread deadly diseases.

The weapons are said to be designed to spread germs such as smallpox and anthrax which some experts believe is more dangerous than Kim Jong-un’s nuclear weapons programme.

The report by the US State Department, which monitors foreign governments’ compliance with arms control obligations, said: ‘The United States assesses that the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has a dedicated, national level offensive BW [biological weapons] programme.

The DPRK has the capability to produce biological agents for military purposes [and] the technical capability to produce bacteria, viruses and toxins that could be used as BW agents. The DPRK also has the capability to genetically engineer biological products.’

North Korea, of course, denies everything.

Despite being part of the Biological weapon convention, the autocratic regime has not submitted an annual data exchange report (the Confidence Building Measure) since 1990. Not all State Parties do so routinely, but submissions have increased steadily for several years.

The US has called the report submitted in 1990 “null” as North Korea claimed there was nothing relevant to report.

The US State Department’s recent report comes as the Security Council’s so-called ‘expert panel’ sanctions on North Korea are set to expire. Russia blocked the annual renewal of the panel’s mandate.

North Korea also found enough time to launch a few ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff detected several short-range ballistic missiles launched from neighboring capital Pyongyang at 3:01 p.m. local time. The projectiles flew about 185 miles and “splashed into the sea,” according to a statement carried by the country’s Yonhap news agency.

Seoul condemned North Korea’s missile test—at least its fourth ballistic launch event of the year so far—but did not provide further details on the model of the weapon fired into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

Inter-Korean relations are at a low point not seen in decades, fuelled by the North’s weapons tests and war talk, which its official Korean Central News Agency says are a response to the South’s alignment with the United States, considered a threat to its national security.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.