For decades now, the totalitarian country of North Korea has been closed off to the rest of the world. Very few people ever come in, and even fewer come out. For this reason, information about the state is scarce, and anyone who does manage to defect from the regime is highly valuable when it comes to providing information about Pyongyang's plans.
While this has always been of interest to the rest of the world,
recent developments in international relations between the USA and North Korea have made it more important than ever to find out more about the secretive state.
So, when a North Korean soldier managed to defect to the South recently, the world was keen to see whether he - or his body - could give any clues as to
what has been happening under Kim Jong Un's rule. And the results were pretty unnerving, to say the least.
According to South Korean intelligence, "Anthrax antibodies have been found in the North Korean soldier who defected this year."
This is obviously of great concern to the US, as it was rumored recently that Pyongyang had been testing anthrax-tipped missiles. Though this, along with many other suspicions about the isolated state, was not officially confirmed, the recent blood test of the soldier suggests that the beliefs were true.
The fact that the unnamed soldier had anthrax antibodies in his system proves that he was either exposed to the disease, or had been vaccinated against it in order to immunize him from its harmful effects.
When inhaled, anthrax can cause painful skin lesions, debilitating respiratory infections, extreme gastrointestinal problems, and, in the worst cases, death. If North Korea is using the substance in its weapons, it suggests that they are preparing for biological as well as nuclear warfare.
“It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the institute is intended to produce military-size batches of anthrax,” said Melissa Hanham, a North Korea specialist. “Regardless of whether the equipment is being used to produce anthrax today, it could be in the near future.”
And, if that does turn out to be true, the states should be wary.
A former deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Defense, Rebecca Hersman, stated recently that, "North Korea is bad enough when you’re talking about their nuclear and missiles program. But I think we ignore their chemical and biological programs truly at our own peril."
Even National Security Strategy reports are addressing the matter, and confirmed a few weeks ago that Pyongyang is "pursuing chemical and biological weapons which could also be delivered by missile."
The report went on to say: "North Korea — a country that starves its own people — has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that could threaten our homeland."
At present,
Donald Trump has not offered much in the way of a serious political strategy when it comes to dealing with Kim Jong Un, and instead has resorted to mud-slinging and childish insults. With
each new worrying piece of evidence that comes out of North Korea, one would hope that he would begin working diplomatically towards diffusing the situation - and, hopefully, this most recent development will be the one to convince him to take matters seriously.
