Location: Unknown

Subordinate to: Korea Workers Party (朝鮮勞動黨) and/or 5th Machine Industry Bureau (第5機械總局), Second Economic Committee (第2經濟委員會), National Defense Commission (國防委員會)

Primary Function: Production of biological warfare (BW) agents

Description: Following Kim Il Sung’s November 1980 order to develop biological and chemical weapons, North Korea accelerated its biological weapons development at the Party Central Biological Research Institute,  the Preventive Military Medical Unit (豫防軍事醫療部隊) and the No. 25 Factory (25號工場). According to a 1992 report by South Korea’s Agency for National Security Planning (國家安全企劃部), North Korea produces 13 types of BW agents such as bacillus anthracis (anthrax), cholera, typhoid bacillus and plague bacteria at these three facilities. The report says that these BW agents are sent to the Munch’ŏn Agar Factory (文川寒天工場) for weaponization. [Note: Between 1975 and 1980, North Koreans and the North Korean media referred to an entity known as the “party center (黨中央),” which was later revealed to be Kim Jong Il. Kim’s name may not have been used initially to avoid the possible charges of nepotism while he was being groomed to succeed his father. Therefore, the Party Central Biological Research Institute could have been after Kim Jong Il.]   

	Updated July 2003

Key Sources:
Chang Chun Ik, Pukhan Haek-Missile Chŏnjaeng (Seoul: Sŏmundang, 1999), pp. 367-368; Kim In, “Segyeŭi hwahangmugi/Pukhanjungil In Tŭng 25 Kuk Kukpiboyu,” Chosun Ilbo, 22 March 1995, p. 2, in KINDS <http://www.kinds.or.kr>; Kim Wŏn Pong and Osamu Mitsuhuji, Saishin Chosenhanto Gunjijohono Zenbo (Tokyo: Kodansya, 2000) p. 52; “Ch’ejewigishi ‘Taenam Chŏllyakkadŭ’ Ro Hwalyong/Pukhan saenghwahangmugi Shiljŏnbaech’i Sanghwang,” Segye Ilbo, 24 October 1992, p. 5, in KINDS <http://www.kinds.or.kr>; Ha T’ae Wŏn, “Pukhan Kunsugiŏp 130 Yŏgae…Hwahangmugi 9 Kosesŏ Saengsan,” Donga Ilbo, 5 February 2001, p. 1, in KINDS <http://www.kinds.or.kr>.