North Korea's Secret Biochemical Arsenal

mattnyc99 writes "Popular Mechanics has an in-depth report on North Korea's biological and chemical weapons stock, which has been developed in secret and has gone largely unnoticed amidst the country's nuke threat. From the article: 'North Korea's Chemical and Bioweapons (CBW) program appears to be modeled on that of the former Soviet Union, which covertly constructed a massive biological weapons infrastructure within the shell of a civilian research organization called Biopreparat. Inside Biopreparat, the Soviets developed deadly agents that included weaponized forms of anthrax and pneumonic plague. Intelligence reports from the United States and South Korea list anthrax, smallpox, pneumonic plague, cholera and botulism toxins as leading components of North Korea's bioweapons projects.' "

Re:Popular Mechanics?

[iamlucky13]

As someone who grew up on a big stack of Popular Mechanics, I hate to say it, but "in-depth" and "Popular Mechanics" are two terms that haven't worked well together in a sentence for years, arguably decades. A much better source of information is www.globalsecurity.org or fas.org. In fact, looking through their section on North Korea's WMD [globalsecurity.org], I see that the Popular Mechanics author basically paraphrased their write-up, giving his article all the quality and broad research base of any good internet blog.

Another nice aspect of globalsecurity and the Federation of American Scientists, is that both maintain rather extensive databases of information on weapon systems. For example, if after reading the article, I want to know how far a chemical weapon-equipped Scud could deliver it's payload, I can look that up [globalsecurity.org], too.

Re:Hmmmm... Where's Bush on All This?

[ArcherB]

How long 'til Bush Bashing is considered Karma Whoring? God knows that being a conservative is one way ticket to "Troll", "Flamebait" and my all time favorite, "Overrated".

Back to your comment:
Funny... a bioweapons program in N. Korea? With nukes and everything? Real, tangible weapons of mass destruction? With a prosperous true democracy only minutes away? Where's the sabre-rattling? Why hasn't Colin Powell been dispatched to the UN? How come Condi's not talking about mushroom clouds?

Well, if Bush hadn't received so much shit for the last war, he might be a bit more willing to go at it again. I'm sure the last thing the administration wants to give you guys another reason to protest for impeachment.

Also, and more importantly, there's a boat-load in S. Korea and Japan that are quietly praying the problem will go away. The governments in these countries don't want us to do anything about it right now because they know their cities will either glow in the dark or sit under a cloud of poisonous fumes. On the other hand, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia wanted Saddam Hussein gone and encouraged us to take action.

Re:Compared to, say, the US ...

[vandan]

Iraq's stockpile of WMDs was not alleged - it was filmed and documented by United Nations weapons inspectors

Unfortunately a lot of Americans still believe this. You need to turn off Fox news and get your information from elsewhere. The UN categorically stated, time and again, that they found no evidence of any WMD program in Iraq. This is why Dubya had to act unilaterally and go directly against the wishes of the UN ( and the security council, no less ) in invading Iraq.

and it was actively used against Iran and the Kurds

As others have pointed out, Iraq didn't use their own chemical weapons in these cases, as they had none. They used US stocks. The CIA supervised Saddam's use of these weapons, documenting their effects. No-one is disputing the fact that Saddam used these weapons, but the sad reality is that their used was very much approved by the US, and in particular, Donald Rumsfeld.

North Korea's stockpile isn't alleged either - they've admitted on numerous occassions that they have weaponized Uranium and have working nuclear weapons.

So? The recent nuclear test proves otherwise. They achieved a nuclear 'event', but no-where near what's required to produce a nuclear bomb. It was a fizzle. And the article wasn't talking about nuclear weapons. It was spreading unsubstantiated crap about chemical and biological weapons, and then neglecting to put these allegations in the context of the US's chemical and biological weapons programs.

Furthermore, they've threatened to actually use those weapons against those they perceive as conspiring against them (ie "sea of fire...")

Welcome to the world of diplomacy. As I argued in my original post, this is required by North Korea, to fend of continual threats from the US. They are merely reacting. Do you expect them to sit and take it?

In your rush to condemn the United States and its government, you seem to have lost track of the fact that Iraq murdered hundreds of thousands of its own citizens

Oh bullshit! Thousands, yes. But hundreds of thousands? No. That honour goes to the US. And once more, Saddam was only able to do this with explicit US backing.

and North Korea is threatening nearby democracies with nuclear destruction while its citizens starve en masse in an Orwellian police state

More bullshit. North Korea is threatening no-one. They have no expansionist agenda, unlike the US. When is the last time North Korea invaded someone? And when was the last time the US invaded someone? North Korea's weapons are a joke compared to their neighbours', hence the current push to get nuclear weapons. They are seeking weapons as deterrence. As for the 'Orwellian police state', have a look at the US. Sure, North Korea is not innocent in this respect, but the scale of development of the US police state dwarfs North Korea incredibly. You need to get some context into your analysis.

The world is not black and white as we would like, and it's time for people who delude themselves into believing it is to grow up

I agree with you on that one.

What a lovely country.

[Txiasaeia]

Revealed: the gas chamber horror of North Korea's gulag [guardian.co.uk]
The hidden gulag: Reports leak out of atrocities at North Korean labor camps [signonsandiego.com]
Auschwitz Under Our Noses [washingtonpost.com]
A WELL-FOUNDED FEAR: PUNISHMENT AND LABOR CAMPS IN NORTH KOREA [hrw.org]
Death and terror in North Korea's gulags [msn.com]
Comparative Analysis of Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany, the Former Soviet Union and North Korea [chosunjournal.com]
An Auschwitz in Korea [boston.com]

It's baffling to me why a country that has consistently and fairly been compared with Nazi Germany, to the point of concentration camps and illegal medical experimentation, has been allowed to exist for this long. Drudge reported this morning that they're prepping another nuke test, and it's a well-known fact that they've been developing chem and bio weapons for years. A new Hitler has risen, and we are so busy looking elsewhere that we either haven't noticed or don't care.

Re:What a lovely country.

[b0s0z0ku]

A new Hitler has risen, and we are so busy looking elsewhere that we either haven't noticed or don't care.

Actually worse than Hitler. Hitler actually brought prosperity to the non-Jewish, non-dissident, non-... part of Germany before WW II. All Kim Jong Il has done is supervise the slow starvation of his country. I bet that if North Korean troops saw what was south of the border, he'd have a mutiny on his hands within a month.

-b.

Secret?

[Elitist]

I'm glad they managed to uncover this secret which has gone largely unnoticed in the wake of their recent nuclear ambitions... Though it has been public knowledge that nK has been working on both Biological and Chemical weapons since the 1960s!

Note:
South Korea: Monthly on DPRK Weapons of Mass Destruction : FBIS-EAS-98-325 : 21 Nov 1998

Or don't even bother with the South Koreans and let's see what the official US government stance on this issue is:

"As we have indicated before, it is our assessment that North Korea has an active biological weapons program and is capable of producing and delivering via munitions a wide variety of chemical and biological agents, in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention."
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/15114.htm [state.gov]
Released on November 13, 2002

I know a secret as well, don't tell anyone, but the Soviet Union fell!