September 24, 2023
News

North Korea has up to 5K tons of cyanide and other chemical weapons: Report

US and South Korea must adjust war plans to focus on 'actual' chemical, cyber and nuclear threats, think tanks say

North Korea has amassed a “significant inventory” of chemical weapons and likely possesses enough nukes to conduct electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, according to a new joint report from leading U.S. and South Korean think tanks.

The report, published Tuesday by the RAND Corporation’s National Security Research Division and the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, states that the DPRK likely possesses between 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical warfare agents, including chlorine gas, cyanide, sarin and VX. If deployed in ideal conditions, the report estimates that a 1,000-kilogram sarin attack could kill as many as 125,000 people in South Korea — the same estimate they place on a 12.5-kiloton nuclear air blast over the ROK.