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Koreas: Seoul Says Pyongyang Has Large Chemical Weapons Stockpile

Koreas: Seoul Says Pyongyang Has Large Chemical Weapons Stockpile
folder_openKoreas access_time7 years ago
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Experts from South Korea said that Pyongyang has up to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including the toxin used to assassinate its leader's half-brother.

Koreas: Seoul Says Pyongyang Has Large Chemical Weapons Stockpile

Traces of VX -- a nerve agent listed as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations -- were detected on swabs from the face and eyes of Kim Jong-Nam, who was poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's international airport last week, Malaysian police said Friday.

Malaysian detectives are holding three people -- women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean man -- but want to speak to seven others, four of whom are believed to have fled to Pyongyang.

South Korea's defense ministry said in its 2014 Defense White Paper that the North began producing chemical weapons in the 1980s and estimated that it has about 2,500 to 5,000 tons in stock.

North Korea has chemical weapons production facilities in eight locations including the northeastern port of Chongjin and the northwestern city of Sinuiju, it said in the 2012 edition of the document.

"North Korea is believed to have a large stockpile of VX, which can easily be manufactured at low cost," defense analyst Lee Il-Woo at the private Korea Defence Network told AFP.

Developed some 100 years ago, VX can be produced at small laboratories or facilities producing pesticides, he said.

"Chemical and biological weapons can be delivered through various means such as artillery, missiles and planes", he added.

If absorbed through the skin, eyes or nose, just a tiny drop of the colorless, odourless nerve agent is enough to fatally damage a victim's central nervous system.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

 

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