- A high-ranking North Korean official admitted to US Assistant
Secretary of State James Kelly last month that Pyongyang possessed biological
weapons, in addition to developing nuclear arms, reports said.
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- According to the Yomiuri and Asahi newspapers published
Thursday, as well as major local news agencies, a Japanese official said
that North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju had told visiting Kelly:
"Other than nuclear, we also have many other things. We also have
bio."
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- While the reclusive Stalinist state has long been suspected
of having an arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, if confirmed this
would be the first time it has admitted to it.
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- The US State Department quickly denied the reports, however,
saying in a written answer that the North Korean senior diplomat "made
no such remarks or admission during his meeting with Assistant Secretary
Kelly."
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- But it said Washington believed Pyongyang did indeed
have a germ warfare capability.
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- Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday
said Kelly's reports to Tokyo indicated Pyongyang had the capability for
various weapons of mass destruction but the possibility of it having biological
weapons was nothing new.
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- "Various sources already pointed out such a possibility
years ago," Fukuda told a news conference.
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- "I cannot go into details, but according to Kelly's
briefings we understand that North Korea has a capability of producing
not only nuclear weapons but also others," he said.
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- The new revelation was likely to influence the outcome
of a board meeting of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Program (KEDO)
in New York later on Thursday to decide on the future of the program, the
reports said.
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- The program is designed to provide North Korea with nuclear
plants and oil in exchange for a halt to its nuclear weapons development.
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