North Korea stockpiles chemical weapons
2001-11-20 08:28
Seoul - North Korea has amassed an arsenal of biochemical weapons but there is no clear evidence linking the communist country with
terrorist networks, South Korea's defence chief said.
"North Korea stockpiles between 2 500 tons and 5 000 tons of
biochemical weapons in six different facilities and has the
capability to wage germ warfare," Defence Minister Kim Dong-shin
said at a parliamentary committee late on Monday night.
Kim also said North Korea is believed to have stores of anthrax,
smallpox and eight other types of diseases.
Lt. Col. Kim Bong-hak, a Defence Ministry spokesperson, confirmed
the contents of Kim's remarks.
Observers have said the North's biological weapons programme poses
a threat because the reclusive country has developed missiles that
can reach South Korea and part of Japan, where 100 000 US troops
are stationed.
Kim said, however, that his ministry has no information tying
North Korea with Osma bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks in the United States.
As a precautionary measure against possible chemical and germ
attacks by North Korea, Pentagon has issued gas masks to all 37 000
US troops and their families in South Korea.
At a UN conference in Geneva on Monday, John R Bolton, US
undersecretary of state for arms control, accused Iraq, North Korea
and four other countries of building germ-warfare arsenals and
suggested one of them might be helping bin Laden.
Bolton said Washington has yet to determine the source of
anthrax attacks in the United States but he noted that Osama bin
Laden has said he wanted to obtain weapons of mass destruction and
use them against the United States.
"We are concerned that he could have been trying to acquire a
rudimentary biological weapons capability, possibly with support
from a state," Bolton said.
Bolton said the United States was "not prepared, at this time,
to comment whether rogue states may have assisted" bin Laden in the
plan.
Bolton said North Korea could likely "produce sufficient
quantities of biological agents for military purposes within weeks
of a decision to do so." Libya, Syria, Iran and Sudan were the
others he cited as being at various stages in developing the
weapons. - Sapa/AP
- SAPA