by NICK BAILEY and MICHELE NEUBERT
Amid a flurry of missile tests and inflammatory rhetoric, the world’s attention is focused on North Korea's nuclear program.
But one expert believes the rogue state's stockpile of chemical weapons could also bring catastrophic consequences.
The Center for Nonproliferation Studies estimates North Korea has between 2,500 and 5,000 metric tons of chemical weapons.
In particular, it has a large supply of VX, the deadliest nerve agent ever created; last year it was used to assassinate Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, at Kuala Lumpur airport.
The chemical stockpile could harm thousands of people if it were attached to a missile or if it ended up in the hands of Islamist extremists, according to Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the U.K. Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment (CBRN) and NATO’s Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion.
“The chance that North Korea might provide jihadis with some of their chemical or nuclear capability is a huge concern at the moment,” he said. “What some people forget ... is that in 2006 North Korea helped [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad and his regime set up their own nuclear program which was destroyed by the Israelis. But only as recently as a few weeks ago, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons intercepted two North Korean ships heading towards northern Syria with equipment to make chemical weapons.”
De Bretton-Gordon has described VX as "the most toxic chemical weapon ever produced," highlighting that even a "microscopic amount" can prove deadly. VX also featured in the 1996 action thriller "The Rock."
It's banned under several international conventions and was designated a weapon of mass destruction by a U.N. resolution in April 1991. Its origins date back to the early 1950s, when a British scientist named Ranajit Ghosh was researching pesticides and developed the "V-series" of nerve agents — the V stood for "venom."
De Bretton-Gordon, who now works for military supplier Avon, fears impoverished Pyongyang could be more tempted to sell its chemical stockpile as it grapples with toughening global sanctions.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/north-korea-also-has-nerve-agent-vx-chemical-weapons-expert-n802231
