Asian training course on chemical weapons begins in S. Korea

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, May 11 (Yonhap) -- A five-day Asian training course on ways to deal with
chemical weapons began Monday in South Korea, jointly organized by an
international body that bans such arms, the defense ministry in Seoul said.

South Korea is a member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW), which implements the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), a 1997
pact that has yet to be signed by just eight countries, including North Korea,
Israel and Syria.
South Korea is technically still at war with North Korea -- which is believed to
have a stockpile of thousands of tons of chemical warfare agents -- and is an
original signatory to the CWC, to which nearly 190 countries have pledged their
support.
"The Fifth Regional Assistance-and-Protection Course for Asian States Parties"
will be held mainly in Seoul, drawing 22 countries, including China, India, Iran,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Sri Lanka, the Ministry of National Defense said
in a statement.
South Korea is the only Asian country to host such a training course since it was
allowed to be conducted within the region in 2005, the ministry said.
"The OPCW has recognized South Korea's capabilities to defend against chemical
warfare," it said, adding European countries had mostly hosted the program.
The participants will be trained on ways to detect chemical-warfare agents and
decontaminate them, while exchanging information on know-how and equipment for
dealing with such weapons, it said.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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