DPRK blasts U.S. for shipping anthrax to S.Korea

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday condemned the United States for shipping live anthrax bacteria to a military base in South Korea.

The state-run KCNA news agency issued a report accusing the United States of developing deadly biochemical weapons and using the Korean Peninsula as a testing ground.

"This was another grave politically motivated provocation against the DPRK and an unpardonable act of bringing the dark clouds of biochemical warfare to hang over the Korean Peninsula," the report said.

"The recent anthrax experiment conducted by the United States in its air force base in Osan of South Korea was a hideous crime against humanity," it added.

The report also condemned Washington for launching germ warfare and even using globally banned chemical weapons during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The U.S. plan for the development of biochemical weapons obviously assumes offensive nature as they are developed to help the United States to achieve their goal of world domination, the report said.

The U.S. moves for a war of aggression against the DPRK under the pretext of nuclear and biochemical threats would only compel the DPRK to further bolster its self-defense capability, the KCNA warns.

The Pentagon said Wednesday that at least 51 labs in 17 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia and three foreign countries have received potentially live anthrax samples.

The Pentagon said Friday that 24 labs in 11 states as well as South Korea and Australia have received suspect samples, which it said were mistakenly shipped by a U.S. military facility. Endi