S. Korean military vulnerable to N. Korea's biological attacks

SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military is vulnerable to North Korea's biological attacks, due to lack of adequate equipment, an opposition lawmaker insisted on Sunday.
Rep. Shin Hak-yong of the Democratic Party said that the South's military currently owns scores of anti-biological vehicles capable of detecting only four kinds of biological agents, though the North has 13 kinds of biological agents, including anthrax bacterium, smallpox virus and cholera.



The anti-biological military vehicles are antiquated, as they were introduced here ahead of the 2002 World Cup finals co-hosted with Japan, the lawmaker claimed.
He noted that the military has commissioned a local private firm to develop an advanced biological toxin detector capable of monitoring 10 kinds of biological agents in two minutes, but its deployment is scheduled for 2013 at the earliest.
Shin said the military is planning to deploy the new anti-biological detector at the nation's major airports, ports and military facilities.
"Our military's defense has been excessively focused on preparedness for North Korea's chemical attacks, rather than for its biological attacks," said Shin, calling for greater efforts to expand defense against biological warfare.