2002
5 March 2002
General Thomas A. Schwartz, Commander in Chief of U.S. forces in Korea, testifies before the U.S. Senate. According to Gen. Schwartz: "North Korea has the capability to develop, produce and weaponize biological warfare agents. They can deploy missiles with chemical warheads and potentially have the ability to weaponize biological agents for missile delivery."
--Thomas A. Schwartz, statement before the 107th Congress, Senate Armed Services Committee, 5 March 2002, p. 8.

6 May 2002
John R. Bolton, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, describes North Korea's biological weapons capabilities before a speech to the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. According to Mr. Bolton:

"North Korea has a dedicated, national-level effort to achieve a BW capability and has developed and produced, and may have weaponized, BW agents in violation of the [Biological and Toxin Weapons] Convention. Despite the fact that its citizens are starving, the leadership in Pyongyang has spent large sums of money to acquire the resources, including a biotechnology infrastructure, capable of producing infectious agents, toxins, and other crude biological weapons. It likely has the capability to produce sufficient quantities of biological agents for military purposes within weeks of deciding to do so, and has a variety of means at its disposal for delivering these deadly weapons."
--John R. Bolton, "Beyond the Axis of Evil: Additional Threats from Weapons of Mass Destruction," Heritage Lectures, No. 743, p. 3.

29 August 2002
In Seoul, John Bolton, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, says that there is "little doubt that North Korea has a chemical weapons program and "one of the most robust offensive bioweapons programs on earth."
--Sang-Hun Choe, "Negotiator Says N. Korea Well-Armed," Washington Post, 29 August 2002, <http://www.washingtonpost.com>; Martin Nesirky, "U.S. Official Calls N. Korea 'Peddler' of Missile Technology," Washington Post, 30 August 2002, p. 17, <http://www.washingtonpost.com>.

29 January 2003
In a radio broadcast, North Korea accuses the U.S. military of having used biological warfare agents, including the causative agents of plague, cholera, and typhoid, against North Korea in January 1952. The broadcast further claimed that the United States is developing new biological agents. No evidence to support the claims was provided.
--"North Korean Radio Accuses US of Using Chemical, Biological Weapons in Korea," BBC Monitoring International Reports, 29 January 2003, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexisnexis.com>.

18 May 2003
According to Japanese public safety and customs authorities, six Japanese trading companies associated with North Korean residents living in Japan received orders from North Korea since the late 1990s for products that could be used in the production of missiles and weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons. Among the materials ordered were gas chromatography analyzers, vacuum freeze dryers, constant temperature incubation tanks, and stainless steels.
--"Six Japanese Firms Received Orders for WMD-Related Materials from DPRK," Sankei Shimbun (Tokyo), 19 May 2003, OSC Document JPP20030520000099.

4 June 2003
In testimony before the International Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, characterized North Korea's programs in weapons of mass destruction and missile production as "a grave threat to regional and global security and a major challenge to the international nonproliferation regime." With respect to North Korea's BW program, Bolton stated, "the United States believes North Korea has a dedicated, national-level effort to achieve a biological weapons capability in violation of the BWC."
--John R. Bolton, testimony before the International Relations Committee, US House of Representatives, "US Efforts to Stop the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction," 4 June 2003, <http://www.state.gov/t/us/rm/21247.htm>.

December 2003
In an unclassified report to the US Congress, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) assesses that North Korea has "pursued BW capabilities since the 1960s." The report also states that North Korea secured dual-use materials for its BW program, and may have BW agents and weapons ready to use.
--DCI Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control Center, Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions–Attachment A, 1 July – 31 December 2003, pp. 5-6, <http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/
pdfs/721report_july_dec2003.pdf>.

17 September 2004
A Western journalist is allowed to visit several of North Korea's biotechnology laboratories in July 2004. According to his account, North Korean scientists are attempting to master advanced biotechnology techniques, including genetic engineering and somatic cloning. Some of the activities underway, such as the isolation of tetrodotoxin, a powerful neurotoxin produced by pufferfish, could potentially be employed in an offensive biological weapons program. However, the reporter observed that the biological research was carried out "in largely antiquated and poorly supplied facilities." In addition, some of the claims made by North Korean scientists, including the ability to clone rabbits from somatic cells, have not been independently confirmed.
--Richard Stone, "A Wary Pas de Deux," Science 305 (17 September 2004), p. 1696.

4 February 2005
In its 2004 National Defense White Paper, South Korea analyzed the military capabilities of North Korea. With respect to chemical and biological weapons, the report states that North Korea currently appeared to have "approximately 2,500 to 5,000 tons of poisonous agents-–nerve agents, blister agents, blood agents, nausea-producing gas, and tear gas produced at several chemical plants," further noted that North Korea "is capable of self-reliantly culturing and producing biological weapons such as anthrax, smallpox, and cholera."
--"ROK Defense White Paper 2004 Assesses DPRK Military Capabilities," Kukpang Paekso' 2004 (Korean), 4 February 2005, translated in OSC Document KPG20050216000036.

17 February 2006
Japanese police raided about 10 locations, including the offices of the Tokyo-based trading company Seishin Soiji and the home of its president, on suspicion that the company illegally exported a freeze dryer to North Korea in September 2002. A freeze dryer is a dual-use item which may be used to preserve bacteria and produce biological weapons, and its export therefore would require a license from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
--"Tokyo Trading Companies Raided Under Suspicion of Exporting WMD-Linked Device to DPRK," Tokyo Kyodo World Service, 17 February 2006, OSC Document FEA20060217019685; "Illicit Trafficking: Japanese Export Controls Under Scrutiny as Revelations of Illicit Transfers Continue," International Export Control Observer, March 2006, p. 9, <http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/observer/pdfs/ieco_0603e.pdf>.

15 July 2006
Following North Korea's 5 July 2006 test launchings of seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, the UN Security Council unanimously passes Resolution 1695 condemning the launchings and imposing sanctions on the country. The resolution requires UN member states to "prevent missile and missile-related items, materials, goods and technology being transferred to DPRK's missile of WMD programs." The resolution also requires states to prevent the transfer of financial resources "in relation to DPRK's missile or WMD programs." North Korea immediately rejected the resolution.
--UN Security Council, Resolution 1695, 15 July 2006; Gerald Aziakou, "UN Unanimously Approves North Korea Sanctions," Agence France Presse, 15 July 2006, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexisnexis.com>.

10 August 2006
Japanese police arrest the former president of the Japanese trading firm Meisho Yoko. The man, Kim Yong Gun, is suspected of arranging the illegal 2002 export of a freeze dryer from Japan to North Korea via a Taiwanese intermediary trading firm in violation of Japanese export control laws. The freeze dryer could be used to manufacture biological weapons. According to Japanese police, Kim admitted to the crime.
--"Man Held Over Illegal Export to N. Korea," The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), 11 August 2006, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexisnexis.com>; "Asahi: Man Sold Pyongyang Restricted Device," Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo), 11 August 2006, OSC Document JPP200608119690.

14 October 2006
In response to North Korea's 6 October 2006 test of a nuclear device, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issues UNSC Resolution 1718. The resolution demands North Korea "abandon all other existing weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programme in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner." The resolution imposed a series of sanctions on North Korea to inhibit its weapons programs and pressure the regime to comply with UNSC demands.
--UN Security Council Resolution 1718, 14 October 2006.

4 November 2006
According to a Tokyo newspaper report, North Korea utilized its financial holdings at Banco Delta Asia, a Macao-based bank, to pay for a Japanese freeze dryer which it received in 2002 from Japan in an illegal export operation. The freeze dryer is a dual-use item that could be used to produce biological weapons. The U.S. government had identified Banco Delta Asia's relationship with North Korea as enabling North Korea's counterfeiting and money laundering activities, and imposed sanctions on the bank in September 2005, which pressured the bank to freeze roughly $24 million in North Korean assets.
--"Macau Bank Tied to DPRK WMD Projects; Funds Sent from Accounts to Japan in '02," The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), 4 November 2006, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexisnexis.com>; Daniel Pinkston and Dave Kim, "North Korea's Financial Network is the Target of Wide-Ranging Nonproliferation Sanctions," WMD Insights, December 2006/January 2007, p. 21, <http://www.wmdinsights.com/PDF/WMDInsights_
DecJan07Issue_corrected.pdf>.

20 November 2006
In an address to the Sixth Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Review Conference, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John C. Rood accuses North Korea of supporting terrorism and violating its BWC obligations.
--John C. Rood, "Address by John C. Rood, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, to the Sixth Biological Weapons Convention Review Conference (as Released by the US Mission in Geneva)," Federal News Service, 20 November 2006, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexisnexis.com>.

December 2006
In its 2006 Defense White Paper, the South Korean Ministry of Defense stated with respect to North Korea's chemical and biological weapons programs "that North Korea has been producing poison gas and biological weapons since the 1980s. It is believed that 2,500 to 5,000 tons of a variety of agents including nerve agents remain stored in a number of facilities...and that North Korea is able to produce biological weapons such as the bacteria of anthrax, smallpox, and cholera."
--Ministry of Defense, Republic of Korea, 2006 Defense White Paper (English translation), May 2007, p. 74, <http://www.mnd.go.kr/mndEng/DefensePolicy/Whitepaper/index.jsp>; "White Paper Defines North Korea as 'Grave Threat'," The Korea Herald, 29 December 2006, OSC Document KPP20061229971064.

11 January 2007
In testimony before the U.S. Senate, Lieutenant General Michael Maples, Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, reaffirms U.S. suspicions regarding North Korea's weapons of mass destruction programs. With respect to biological weapons, Maples stated, "North Korea's resources include a biotechnical infrastructure that could support the production of various biological agents."
--Michael D. Maples, statement before US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, "Current and Projected National Security Threats to the United States," 11 January 2007, p.13.

14 September 2007
The U.S. Department of State releases the 2007 International Religious Freedom Report, which cited unconfirmed reports that North Korean prisoners detained for their religious beliefs may have been made human subjects for chemical and biological agent testing by the North Korean government. The report further notes that these allegations are very difficult to verify independently. Previous editions of the International Religious Freedom Report contain similar language.
--Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State, International Religious Freedom Report 2007, 14 September 2007, <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/>.

27 November 2007
A Taiwanese official announced that an investigation was underway on the Yicheng Company, a Taiwanese trading firm, on suspicion it had illegally exported an industrial filtering device to North Korea via China. The filtering device could be used in plutonium extraction and chemical and biological weapons manufacture.
--Debby Wu, "Taiwan Investigates Company for Allegedly Selling Nuclear-Related Equipment to North Korea," Associated Press, 27 November 2007, in Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexisnexis.com>.