Munch'ŏn Agar Plant
Location: Munch'ŏn City (Ùþô¹ã¼), Kangwon Province (Ë°ê«Ô³)
Size: 200-ton annual capacity
Primary Function: Reported site for the manufacture of agar growth media, which is supplied for the growth of bacterial cultures in the DPRK.
Description: It is reported that in 1984, Kim Il Sung visited the former East Germany, from which loans and a turnkey plant for agar (growth media) were procured for North Korea.
See http://www.nti.org/db/profiles/dprk/bio/fac/NKB_F_indmic_GO.html
Industrial Microbiology Institute
Other Names: Microbiological Institute (Due to the crossover in terms of personnel and research areas, this profile assumes the Industrial Microbiology Institute and the Microbiology Institute are contained within the same organization.)
Location: Microbiological Institute, P'yongsong City (øÁàòã¼), South P'yongan Province (øÁäÌÑõÔ³)
Subordinate to: Academy of Sciences
Primary Function: Research, development, and production of microbial cultures with applications in areas such as feed supplements, medicines, fermentative industries, and food and beverages
Description: According to defectors and unnamed Japanese specialists, the Microbiological Institute based in P'yongsong is a dual-use facility, involved in the development of biological weapons. Former staff member of the Nuclear and Chemical Defense Bureau, Yi Chung Kuk, a former employee of the People's Armed Forces Nuclear Chemical Defense Bureau who defected in 1993, alleges that the (Industrial) Microbiology Institute is responsible for research and development of biological weapons.
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Work in vaccines North Korean media (1993) has reported on vaccines being produced at the Institute, including those against diphtheria, [Korean] epidemic hemorrhagic fever, and Japanese (unclear, but presumed B type) encephalitis. A 1998 Nodong Sinmun article explained that, because of prevalent economic difficulties, these vaccine researchers apparently were forced to improvise and perhaps supply their own research materials. One researcher, Dr. Kim Nak Chein, has been singled out for his own efforts, specifically for developing a Korean hemorrhagic fever (KHF) vaccine.
Key sources: Yi Son-ho, "North Korea's Technology for the Development of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Its Ability," Pukhan, November 1998, pp. 38-51, translated in FBIS Document SK2111131598; Yi Son Ho, "North Korea's Technology for the Development of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Its Ability," Pukhan, November 1998, pp. 38-51, in FBIS Document FTS19981121000245. Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing the North Korean BW Arsenal," Jane's Intelligence Review, August 1998, p. 29; Hwa, Saeng, Pang, Mi-Sa-Il, and Olmasa Alkye Shipnikka, È, »ý, ¹æ, ¹Ì»çÀÏ, ¾ó¸¶³ª ¾Ë °è½Ê ´Ï ±î ? [Chemical, Biological Defense, Missiles, How Much Do You Know?] (Seoul: Ministry of National Defense, 2001), p. 32.