Topic analysis

North Korea: New report sheds light on chemical weapons

A new report from UK security think tank RUSI, published on the 38 North website under Project Anthracite, uses open-source analysis of over 30,000 patents and journal articles to document North Korea’s embedded industrial capacity to produce chemical weapons agents including sulfur mustard, sarin, and VX nerve agent. Multiple independent analysts confirm North Korea likely holds 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons stockpiles, and warn the regime would deploy these weapons against South Korean military and civilian targets if facing imminent collapse or existential threat, citing Pyongyang’s 2017 use of VX to assassinate Kim Jong Nam and its non-signatory status to the Chemical Weapons Convention.