North Korea and Biological Weapons: Assessing the Evidence

North Korea’s announcement that it is developing a vaccine for COVID-19 has focused renewed media attention on Pyongyang’s purported biological weapons (BW) program. This report reviews the US and South Korea’s public assessments on North Korea’s BW program and corresponding policy responses. While North Korea may once have had and may still be pursuing a BW capability, official US and South Korean public records do not indicate North Korea possesses an advanced BW program.