North Korea are pursuing some kind of “biological weapons capability”, Hoover research fellow Lanhee Chen has warned.
Speaking to Fox News, Mr Chen warned it was “very” easy for any country to switch from making pesticides to making biological weapons.
He said: “Back in 2015, Kim Jong-un paid a visit to what was called at the time a pesticide factory.
“Now the interesting things about this is that it’s very easy for North Koreans, it’s very easy for actually any country, to flip the switch and go from manufacturing pesticides to manufacturing biological weapons.
“In fact a lot of analysts looked at this and said, ‘Hey, in fact, we have evidence, credible evidence, the North Koreans are pursuing some kind of biological weapons capability’.”
Mr Chen added that Anthrax has been found in the blood of North Korean defectors.
Anthrax has been used a biological weapon throughout the 20th Century as it is spread easily by breathing in spores in the air.
He said: “If you add to that the fact that we have defectors coming over from North Korea to South Korea that test for the Anthrax antibody in their bloodstream.
“In other words, they’ve either been vaccinated against Anthrax or been exposed to the Anthrax virus or Anthrax bacteria rather, this a very serious situation.
“One that clearly indicates that they mean business.”
There has been renewed attention on North Korea’s biological and chemical weapons this year after Kim Jong-un’s half-brother was assassinated in Kuala Lumpur airport with nerve agent VX earlier this year.
A report by researchers at Harvard University, published in October, said “accurately assessing the threat from North Korea’s biological weapons program is challenging,” as unlike its nuclear and missile tests it can be carried out in secret behind-closed-doors.