Kim Jong-un’s hermit state has joined the race for a vaccine but political expert Andrew Weber has warned the research could quickly be adapted to create a new biological weapon. North Korea could potentially create a virus resistant to any new future vaccine, the former advisor to Barack Obama warned. Mr Weber, who was assistant secretary of Defence for America’s nuclear, chemical and biological defence programmes, warned North Korea could launch a small, inexpensive attack which could kill tens of thousands.
He told Politico: “North Korea could use this legitimate vaccine aspiration as a way to enhance their biotechnology capability.
“I think they’re more likely to use a biological weapon against us than a nuclear weapon.
“They could easily launch a bio attack in New York City if they choose to.
“You’d only need small amounts to kill thousands, tens of thousands of people.
“They could buy equipment from Western or Chinese sources that would be necessary for their vaccine effort, and then next year they could turn around and use it to produce biological weapons.”
Although the state of North Korea’s coronavirus pandemic is unknown, with the new supply chains of equipment entering countries to battle the virus, Mr Weber added Kim could use this new technology to improve its bioweaponry.
He added: “That’s the beauty of biological weapons.
“They can hide it within a legitimate biotechnology sector.
JUST IN: Kim Jong Un holds emergency meeting about a ‘disaster’
Mr Weber also admitted in 2010, Washington had become increasingly worried of how advanced North Korea’s biological weaponry may have become.
Amid this concern, the administration launched a programme of exercises with South Korea in 2011 to plan for an outbreak.
Despite these plans to prepare for a potential biological attack from North Korea, some have concluded the US no longer has an ability to inhibit the state’s biowarfare ability.
Referencing North Korea’s new biochemical complex seen in state released pictures in 2015, Joshua Pollack, editor of the Nonproliferation Review and a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies warned it was now too late to stop the state.
He said: “That horse is out the barn door.
“It had brand new, fancy imported equipment, everything you would need to make anthrax except for the safety equipment, which has been seen at other facilities.
“They would seem to have no fatal difficulty overcoming export controls and sanctions that forbid dual-use technology from going into the country.
“We’re so far past the ability to control this stuff.”