Global Security Newswire

North Korea attempted to import 70 tons of sodium cyanide from Thailand last September before South Korea intervened to halt the shipment, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 29).

An unidentified South Korean firm sold 338 tons of sodium cyanide to a Thai company in February 2002, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as telling a National Assembly hearing on Friday. The Thai firm then allegedly arranged to ship 70 tons of the chemical to North Korea.

South Korea persuaded the Thai government to block the shipment, according to Chosun and other South Korean news reports.

Sodium cyanide is used for fertilizer production and has other industrial applications, but it is also a precursor chemical for sarin nerve agent, according to AP.

The shipment was stopped as part of an international effort to crack down on illegal trade in precursor chemicals, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

“It was the result of close cooperation between the Thai and South Korean authorities that we were able to discover the shipment of the chemicals,” Sihasak told AP on Saturday, adding that the action was made possible by “close intelligence sharing that we have between Thailand, South Korea and other allies.”

It remains unclear why Pyongyang tried to purchase the chemical, but the country is thought to have a large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, according to U.S. and South Korean officials (Associated Press/USA Today, Sept. 18).