N. Korean Use of Industrial Chemicals as Weaponry: Impossible to Detect

A recent report carefully announced that North Korea could possibly use “toxic industrial chemicals (TIC),” chemicals easily obtained by any nation, as a military weapon, and it would be impossible to detect such weaponry with military equipment.

Doctor Bruce Benet of the U.S. RAND research center contributed information on this subject in the 2004 Fall edition of the Korean Institute of Defense Analysis’s (KIDA) English magazine: the Korean Defense Analysis Journal. Here, Benet stresses the fact that “TIC chemicals such as chlorine, phosgene, and ammonia can be used for chemical weaponry, and these chemicals are not detectable by the military’s chemical-biological-radiological (CBR) equipment. Also, gas masks or protective clothing will not be able to protect soldiers.”

Representative Hwang Jin-ha of the Grand National Party and also member of the National Defense Committee revealed this report on October 6.

Dr. Benet also cited information from U.S. Congress reports, that “if 10 kilograms of anthrax is sprayed over an area 30 square kilometers on a clear night in Seoul, a maximum of 900,000 people can lose their lives. Or, if one ton of Sarin gas is sprayed over an area of seven square kilometers, a maximum of 230,000 people can lose their lives.”

Dr. Benet also stated, “According to a 1993 intelligence report from Russia, North Korea acquired approximately 56 kilograms of plutonium (enough to make dozens of nuclear warheads) from Russia in 1992.”

Ho-Won Choi bestiger@donga.com