US officials have issued a warning about North Korea’s biological weapons (BW) program, stating that the country is actively developing lethal bacteria and viruses.
According to a report by The Times based in the UK, the US State Department’s annual assessment highlights North Korea’s development of sprays and “poison pens” to disseminate deadly diseases.
Titled “Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments,” the report focuses primarily on North Korea’s efforts to spread anthrax and smallpox, diverting attention away from its nuclear program.
Revealing North Korea’s Biological Weapons Development: US State Department Report
According to the report posted on the State Department’s website, North Korea has maintained a consistent focus on its biological weapons (BW) program.
The report states, “The United States assesses that the DPRK has a dedicated, national-level offensive BW program.”
It further emphasizes that North Korea possesses the capability to produce biological agents for military purposes, including bacteria, viruses, and toxins.
Moreover, the report suggests that Pyongyang likely can weaponize BW agents using unconventional delivery systems such as sprayers and poison pen injection devices, which have previously been used for chemical weapons.
Additionally, North Korea is believed to have the technological capacity to genetically engineer biological products, utilizing technologies like CRISPR, as reported by its State Academy of Sciences and other sources.
CRISPR, short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, is a gene-editing technology that allows for selective gene editing.
Biological weapons function by releasing disease-causing organisms or toxins to inflict harm or fatalities upon humans, animals, or plants. For instance, agents like anthrax are capable of causing severe illness and death.
It is widely believed that North Korea has possessed BW capabilities since as early as the 1960s.
