North Korea challenges US over alleged ‘anthrax’ plant

North Korea has dismissed as “hysteric rage” Washington’s allegations that a bio-tech institute in Pyongyang produces biological weapons, including anthrax, challenging the entire US Congress to come and inspect the facility.

A spokesman for North Korea’s National Defense Commission said that the facility is only used to manufacture pesticides, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday.

He made the comments in reaction to a report that appeared on the website of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University last week, claiming that the North Korean government mass-produces anthrax for the military.

“A thousand pairs of ears cannot match a pair of eyes,” the unnamed spokesman said, adding, “Come here right now, with all the 535 members of the House of Representatives and the Senate as well as the imbecile secretaries and deputy secretaries of the government who have made their voices hoarse screaming for new sanctions.”

He said that the entire US Congress and others then could observe “the awe-inspiring sight of the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute.”

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid a visit to the institute. Mellisa Hanham, a senior researcher at the Center for Non-proliferation Studies in Washington, analyzed the pictures published by state media after Kim’s visit to the facility, claiming that Pyongyang has been importing dual-use equipment.

“It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the institute is intended to produce military-size batches of anthrax,” she said.

The Defense Commission, meanwhile, said the allegations are another example of Washington’s repeated efforts to “tarnish the sublime image” of North Korea.

US biological warfare

On June 12, North Korea accused the US of trying to use “biological warfare schemes” against the Asian country.

In a letter to the UN Security Council (UNSC) and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the North’s Ambassador to the UN Ja Song-nam said “the United States not only possesses deadly weapons of mass destruction ... but also is attempting to use them in actual warfare against” Pyongyang.

North Korea has been targeted by a series of sanctions imposed by the US and the UN over its missile and nuclear tests.

Pyongyang, however, says its numerous missile tests are not provocative “rehearsal for invasion,” but rather a move to boost defense capabilities in the face of enemy threats.

North Korea accuses Washington of plotting with regional allies to topple its government. It has repeatedly denounced the US military presence in South Korea, saying it constitutes a provocation.

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