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heavyblinker -> North Korean Bioweapons Attack (11/19/2017 10:19:00 AM)
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http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/10/23/report-north-korea-developing-biological-weapons-stockpile/
quote:
A crucial 2000 white paper from the South Korean defense ministry indicated North Korea was most interested in developing anthrax and smallpox weapons but has also experimented with botulism, cholera, the plague, yellow fever, and staph, among others. As recently as 2015, a joint U.S.-South Korean investigation concluded North Korea has at least 13 pathogens in its inventory, and “it is possible that it would use them in bioterrorism or in an all-out war.”
A vital lingering question is whether North Korea has weaponized the biological agents in its possession to the point where they could be deployed with missiles or drone aircraft. This would require stabilizing the agents enough to deploy them into targeted environments without killing them, in a form that can be sprayed over a large area to produce the desired catastrophic effect.
Unfortunately, that is not as daunting a challenge as miniaturizing nuclear bombs enough to fit them inside missile warheads. “Agents like anthrax could cause mass casualties with only a small amount: only a few kilograms of anthrax, equivalent to a few bottles of wine, released into a dense city could kill 50 percent of the population,” the Belfer Center notes.
An easier method of deploying bio-weapons is probably available to the totalitarian regime: human distribution agents acting as suicide bio-bombers, disguising themselves as maintenance workers to spray pathogens disguised as cleaning fluids or contaminating city water supplies. “North Korea has 200,000 special forces; even a handful of those special forces armed with BW would be enough to devastate South Korea,” the report points out.
Biological weapons deployed in this manner might fit better into North Korea’s long-term strategy than nuclear weapons. The report speculates the North might launch bio-weapons attacks in South Korea to “disrupt society and create panic, incapacitate societies, and/or cause a significant military diversion” at the beginning of a conventional military invasion intended to unite the peninsula under Pyongyang’s control. This would have the advantage of decimating the South Korean population without destroying valuable infrastructure Pyongyang would like to seize.
It might also crucially delay forceful responses from Western powers, as the North Koreans would doubtless claim they had nothing to do with the mysterious plague running wild through South Korean cities. Biological warfare has a unique aspect that distinguishes it from nuclear or chemical weapons: a mass casualty attack could be well underway, inflicting enormous stress on a society and causing widespread panic, before investigators conclusively prove it is an attack, or determine who launched it.
Good thing there is such a level-headed and brilliant strategist and diplomacy expert in the White House, otherwise this might be a real concern for US citizens.
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