TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned 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,” Abe told a parliamentary panel on national security and diplomacy.
Abe was responding to a question about Japan’s readiness at a time of increased regional tension. A U.S. 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. With U.S.-South Korean war games ongoing, North Korean has intensified rhetoric warning that it would retaliate strongly against any aggression.
South Korea has long said it thinks the North can conduct its sixth nuclear test whenever it chooses. The 38 North website, which monitors North Korea, said satellite imagery of the country’s Pyunggye-ri nuclear test site suggests it is “primed and ready” for an explosion.
Researchers Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. and Jack Liu wrote that images taken Wednesday show continued activity around the site’s north portal, as well as personnel and pallets of equipment or supplies in the main administrative area.
North Korea, which never signed the international Chemical Weapons Convention, is believed to have up to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, according to a South Korean defense white paper, though the North has never acknowledged it.
Experts say if North Korea were to attack South Korea, it would likely target Seoul’s defenses with chemical and biological weapons dropped from aircraft or delivered via missiles, artillery and grenades.
Abe cited Syria, where dozens of people died recently in an alleged sarin nerve gas attack, as an example that Japan should take seriously, stressing the need to strengthen its deterrence against the North.
Japan has taken a few steps this week to reassure the public about its effort to protect the public. On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory to Japanese residents and tourists in South Korea, reminding them of a growing tension. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga denied any “imminent danger,” however.
