By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea is aiming to prevent any more American anthrax blunders by tightening its watch on inbound samples of the potentially lethal bacterium.
After a Pentagon report admitted that South Korea was one of seven countries to receive live spores from the U.S. over the last decade, Seoul’s defense ministry vowed in a statement Friday to “dispel” suspicions.
In May, it emerged that live anthrax had arrived at an American air base outside of South Korea’s capital – the supposedly deactivated spores had been dispatched from a lab in the U.S.
Casualties were avoided and the mistake blew over as the South was hit by an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
Following the establishment of a working group between South Korea and the U.S. to investigate, Seoul is now placing a sharper focus on the incident.
A “high-level” ministry official has insisted that the South is pushing for stricter controls, according to local news agency Yonhap.
The official said that South Korea is making “efforts” to change guidelines so that the U.S. would have to declare even inactive anthrax – previously only live samples required notification.
Seoul and Washington enjoy a sturdy alliance on the surface, not least because nearly 30,000 American military personnel are stationed in the South as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
But recent opposition to deploying a U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula has exposed a long-held desire by some South Korean lawmakers to work toward greater autonomy.
On the other hand, Seoul’s defense ministry has gone on record asserting that North Korea is developing its own anthrax stores, and the need to maintain vigilance against biological attacks is generally recognized.
