North Korean Soldier Who Defected Was Immune to Anthrax

North Korean Soldier Who Defected Was Immune to Anthrax
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute in a photo experts say reveals equipment that could be used to produce anthrax. (North Korean state media)
Janita Kan
12/26/2017
Updated:
12/26/2017

A North Korean soldier who defected to the South has been tested and found to have antibodies to anthrax — sparking fears that the rogue regime may have weaponized the deadly disease.

The soldier, who was either exposed to or vaccinated against anthrax, had developed the immunity before defecting according to South Korean authorities, reported UPI, citing a South Korean news report.

“Anthrax antibodies have been found in the North Korean soldier who defected this year,” a South Korean intelligence official told the local news network, Channel A, on the condition of anonymity.

The official did not identify which of the four soldiers who fled the north this year had the antibodies, reported New York Post.
North Korean Soldiers. (Reuters)
North Korean Soldiers. (Reuters)

South Koreans are worried about the discovery of the antibodies because the disease can kill at least 80 percent of those who are exposed to the bacterium in 24 hours unless antibiotics are taken or vaccination is available, reported UPI. The South Korean military has yet to procure an anthrax vaccine.

According to the country’s Defense Ministry spokeswoman, Choi Hyun-soo, an anthrax vaccine for the South Korean military “is expected to be developed by the end of 2019,” the news station reported.

North Korea is suspected to be developing biological weapons. A number of reports have emerged that the isolated regime has begun testing an anthrax-loaded warhead for its intercontinental ballistic missile after Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted an anonymous intelligence source in Seoul.
The intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 is seen during its test in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, North Korea on July 5, 2017. On Nov. 28, North Korea launched Hwasong-15 and revealed a new capability to strike the U.S. mainland. (KCNA/via Reuters)
The intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 is seen during its test in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, North Korea on July 5, 2017. On Nov. 28, North Korea launched Hwasong-15 and revealed a new capability to strike the U.S. mainland. (KCNA/via Reuters)

According to the Japanese source, North Korea is carrying out heat and pressure tests meant to mimic what a warhead would undergo as it descended to the earth during the final stage of its trajectory.

The tests are meant to determine whether anthrax germs can survive at temperatures up to and above 7,000 degrees. That is the temperature an ICBM’s warhead can reach as it streaks through the atmosphere on its descent.

North Korea has vehemently denied the allegations, but past intelligence reports on the hermit nation reveal agricultural facilities with the dual-use potential to produce anthrax.

North Korean Soldiers observing the DMZ. (Edward N. Johnson [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons)
North Korean Soldiers observing the DMZ. (Edward N. Johnson [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons)
In an October report, The Belfer Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School summarized evidence that North Korea has a biological weapons program capable of producing anthrax, smallpox, and other biological agents. The regime may already possess 13 biological agents, ranging from botulism and cholera to the plague, claimed the report.
Experts say that North Korea’s drive to create biological pesticides and fertilizers may provide the facilities as well as a cover for a biological weapons program.

Propaganda photos of the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute released by the North Korean state media in 2015 revealed that the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute “could produce military-sized batches of [biological weapons], specifically anthrax,” read the Belfer report.

Matthew Little contributed to this report.

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