`NK could kill up to 600,000 in S. Korea via anthrax attack`

An American defense expert warned Wednesday that if North Korea sprays 10 kilograms of anthrax over Seoul, 20,000 to 600,000 people will get infected depending on method.

Bruce Bennett, a senior policy analyst at the U.S.-based think tank RAND Corp., said that about 40 percent among them would die in 10 days in that case. He spoke Wednesday on the North`s biochemical threat at an international symposium at the Korea Military Academy.

If Pyongyang sprays anthrax in the form of aerosol, some of those infected will suffer from respiratory anthrax, he said. Many of those exposed to the virus will show symptoms of anthrax on the third day after an attack, and some will die from the fourth day, he added.

Nearly 40 percent of those exposed to the virus will have died by the 10th day, and another 40 percent will suffer from the disease, he said. At least 8,000 or up to 240,000 people could lose their lives, with the same number of other people infected.

Bennett added that because North Korea will use a number of ways to spray anthrax by using its missiles, aircraft or special forces, South Korea should take action to detect and thwart any such attempt. In particular, he said, aircraft carrying biological weapons should be destroyed in North Korean airspace because the viruses could reach the ground even after the planes are intercepted.

He also urged the South Korean government to regularly examine domestic organizations or groups with connections to North Korea, which could spread chemical materials in a large area.

The expert also raised the possibility that the North in the past experimented with a small number of biological weapons that cause endemic disease to see the South`s ability to detect and respond to such an attack.

Bennett claimed the North`s use of biological weapons was a prelude to an attack on the South, adding it can change the aspect of overall war on the Korean Peninsula.

Heidi Mahy, a senior researcher from the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said North Korea in September 2002 was caught smuggling equipment used to produce biological weapons out of Japan.

ysh1005@donga.com