Pyongyang using disabled children to test chemical and biological weapons

07/24/2009

Seoul (AsiaNews) – Pyongyang is testing its “biological and chemical weapons” on “humans, specifically mentally or physically handicapped children,” a former officer in the North Korean military who defected to South Korea is quoted as saying on the al-Jazeera website. In the interview the defector said that Pyongyang has estimated stockpile of more than 5,000 tonnes of biochemical weaponry, including mustard gas, nerve agents such as sarin, anthrax and cholera.

Im Chun-yong is a former captain in the North Korean military who fled in 1999 with a number of soldiers. He swam across the half frozen Tumen River into China. During their escape he and his men battled their way out, chased by dozens of members of other commando units. “I myself killed three men,” he told al-Jazeera.

He now lives in South Korea and devotes his time to gathering intelligence about the North's military capabilities

"If you are born mentally or physically deficient,” Im said, “the government says your best contribution to society . . . is as a guinea pig for biological and chemical weapons testing.” the rest