Kim Jong Un is creating ‘poisoned pens’ and 'germ sprays' to use against his enemies

North Korea has developed germ sprays and “poison pens” to spread deadly diseases, US officials have revealed.

Kim Jong Un’s regime is genetically engineering the ingredients to produce bacteria, viruses and toxins as part of a germ warfare programme, according to America’s latest assessment of Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction.

The report, seen by The Times, focuses less on the country’s nuclear programme and more on what some experts believe to pose a greater risk: weapons designed to spread bugs such as anthrax and smallpox.

Specialists in neighbouring South Korea as well as the US believe that the reclusive state is now equipped with a significant range of biological weapons that could wreak havoc and devastation in the region in the event of war.

“The United States assesses that the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has a dedicated, national level offensive BW [biological weapons] programme,” the annual report by the US State Department reportedly states.

“The DPRK has the capability to produce biological agents for military purposes [and] the technical capability to produce bacteria, viruses and toxins that could be used as BW agents. The DPRK also has the capability to genetically engineer biological products.”

It goes on: “Pyongyang probably is capable of weaponising BW agents with unconventional systems such as sprayers and poison pen injection devices, which have been deployed by the DPRK for delivery of chemical weapons and could be used to covertly deliver BW agents.”

Kim Jong Un supervising artillery firing drills in North Korea last month ((Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP))

North Korea has never publicly admitted to producing biological weapons and it’s hard to obtain reliable intelligence from inside the country, The Times notes.

Indeed, the autocratic regime has been a party to the Biological Weapons Convention since 1987, but years of evidence suggest it has the scientific capacity, and the drive, to manufacture such arms.

In 1993, the then head of the CIA, James Woolsey, confirmed that Pyongyang was using universities and medical institutes to research anthrax, cholera, bubonic plague and smallpox, and testing biological weapons on offshore islands.

Defectors from North Korea have claimed that testing was carried on political prisoners, although their testimonies are impossible to corroborate.

Proof is particularly hard to gather given that these weapons can be developed in labs that also perform standard medical research.

In 2015, state media reported that Kim had visited a pesticide facility, which could also have had the capacity to make biological agents, The Times reports.

North Korea has been supplying Russia with weapons – including artillery shells – for its war in Ukraine ((Getty Images))

The US State Department’s latest report comes as Security Council sanctions on North Korea are set to expire.

The council’s so-called Panel of Experts has been monitoring the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile testing, flagging any breaches of the rules.

However, their mandate is due to expire at the end of the month, and Russia has blocked its renewal.

As a member of the Security Council, Moscow supported the sanctions when they were first imposed.

But now that it is using North Korean weapons to fight its war in Ukraine – in violation of the sanctions it once voted for – it clearly wants to see all red tape slashed.

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