According to a recent paper published by the US-Korea Institute at SAIS, North Korea produces and possesses the capability to effectively employ significant quantities and varieties of chemical weapons throughout the Korean peninsula. It also has, to a lesser extent, the ability to employ these weapons worldwide using unconventional methods of delivery.

 

A number of chemical warfare agents are reported to be in the North Korean army’s inventory. According to defectors, North Korea produces a total of twenty different chemical agents for use in weapons. These chemical agents are purportedly tested on political prisoners to study their effectiveness.

 

Furthermore, there have been repeated reports that North Korea has provided chemical weapons, agents, or technology to Egypt, Iran, Libya, and Syria. The proliferation of these chemical weapons constitutes an equal, or perhaps greater, threat than the proliferation of North Korea’s nuclear weapons.