- (AFP) -- Stalinist North Korea, which has reportedly
stockpiled up to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, is believed to be capable
of nearly doubling its stocks in one year, South Korea's defense ministry
said.
-
- The North is also fully prepared for biological warfare,
according to a ministry report presented to parliament Monday.
-
- The communist state's stockpile of chemical weapons,
which consists of 17 different types, is now between 2,500 tons and 5,000
tons, the report said.
-
- Pyongyang is presumed to be able to produce some 4,500
tons of chemical weapons annually, it added.
-
- The South's defense ministry report also said the North
has retained 13 different lethal germs to be used for biological warfare
and is believed to be able to produce a ton of biological weapons material
every year, it added.
-
- The United States has branded North Korea as part of
an "axis of evil" and stands accused of spreading weapons of
mass destruction.
-
- The North has refused to take part in an international
treaty against chemical weapons, even after joining a pact against biological
weapons in 1987.
-
-
-
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
