A week ago, the Washington Post reported that U.S. military officials suspected North Korea of preparing biological weapons as part of their arsenal. And since Pyongyang’s enormous strides in missile technology have (according to U.S. military officials and scientists) now placed Washington, D.C. within reach, that news was cause for genuine concern. As if on cue, a report now indicates that Kim Jong-un is intent upon strapping such agents, including anthrax spores and smallpox, onto long-range missiles, and his regime is currently testing whether these bio weapons can survive an intercontinental voyage intact.
Bloomberg passes on word from Japanese newspaper Asahi, which quotes a South Korean intelligence source that says that North Korea is seriously testing this technology, and their biological and chemical weapons stockpile is no joke:
[T]he testing involves ensuring the anthrax survives the immense temperatures generated during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. North Korea has a stockpile of between 2,500 tons to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, and is capable of producing biological agents such as anthrax and smallpox, South Korea has previously said.
The Times of Israel adds that U.S. officials have long suspected that North Korea was messing around with anthrax, and as a result, the U.S. military has vaccinated all of its troops accordingly in South Korea for over a decade. Of course, most people who reside in Washington, D.C. and the rest of the U.S. have not been vaccinated against anthrax and smallpox, so the possibility of a disease-filled warhead — from a nation that’s perfecting its long-range missile technology — is more frightening than any plague-filled Stephen King novel.
However, there’s still the matter of how Pyongyang’s last missile test flew higher than anyone believed the regime capable of accomplishing, yet the projectile crumbled upon reentry. This shows that advancements must still be made before North Korea can threaten the U.S. mainland with a nuke or a biological weapon, but clearly, Kim Jong-un is making progress at an alarming rate, and he won’t be deterred from continued attempts to reach his destructive goals.
(Via Bloomberg, Times of Israel & CNN)