North Korea may be capable of sarin-loaded missiles, Japan PM warns

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives for the official opening of the Ryomyong residential area on April 13, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe warned a parliamentary panel that North Korea may be capable of firing a missile loaded with sarin nerve gas toward Japan. Wong Maye-E/AP PhotoShow less

TOKYO // Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe warned on Thursday that North Korea may be capable of firing a missile loaded with sarin nerve gas toward Japan, as international concern mounted that a missile or nuclear test by the authoritarian state could be imminent.

“There is a possibility that North Korea is already capable of shooting missiles with sarin as warheads,” Mr Abe told a parliamentary panel on national security and diplomacy.

He was responding to a question about Japan’s readiness at a time of increased regional tension. A US navy aircraft carrier is heading toward the Korean Peninsula as Pyongyang prepares for the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il-sung this weekend.

Citing Syria where dozens of people died recently in an alleged sarin nerve gas attack, Mr Abe said Japan should take the matter seriously, stressing the need to strengthen its deterrence against the North.

Sarin has been used in deadly domestic attacks in Japan before, notably in 1995 when the Aum Supreme Truth cult released it in the Tokyo subway killing 13 people and making 6,000 others sick.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked in recent days amid concerns that Pyongyang could be on the verge of executing its sixth nuclear test.

North Korea’s nuclear test site appears “primed and ready” to conduct a trial, according to a US research institute that monitors the country.

Commercial satellite imagery from April 12 showed activity at the Punggye-ri test site north-east of Pyongyang, analysts wrote on the 38 North website, which is run by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

Even so, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff downplayed expectations of an imminent nuclear test, with spokesman Roh Jae-cheon saying the military saw no particular signs that North Korea is preparing any provocative actions.

North Korea, which is not a signatory to the international Chemical Weapons Convention, has been producing chemical weapons since the 1980s and is now estimated to have as many as 5,000 tons, according to a South Korean defence white paper. Its stockpile reportedly has 25 types of agents, including sarin.

Experts say if North Korea were to attack South Korea, it would likely target Seoul’s defences with chemical and biological weapons dropped from aircraft or delivered via missiles, artillery and grenades.

Japan, under its postwar constitution, has limited the role of its military to self-defence only and relied on the US for offensive and nuclear capability. But recently, Mr Abe’s ruling party has proposed that Japan should bolster its missile defence, including upgrading the capability to shoot down an enemy missile and acquiring the capacity to attack the base it was fired from.

With president Donald Trump’s administration not ruling out a military option to dealing with North Korea, “tension is certainly rising”, Mr Abe told a group of lawmakers from his ruling party who sought increased safety measures for Japanese nationals in case of an emergency.

* Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg