TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea continues to maintain a covert biological weapons program in violation of international treaties, according to a newly released U.S. government report.
Biological weapons use pathogens such as bacteria or viruses to sicken or kill. Their invisible nature and devastating potential make them one of the most insidious forms of weaponry.
“The United States assesses that the DPRK has a dedicated, national-level offensive [biological weapons] program,” the State Department said in its 2025 report on global compliance with arms control and disarmament agreements.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK – North Korea’s official name – has long drawn suspicion for its clandestine research including nuclear weapons.
According to the report, the regime possesses “the technical capability to produce bacteria, viruses, and toxins that could be used as BW [biological weapons] agents” and is also capable of genetically engineering biological materials.
Even more concerning, it said, is Pyongyang’s potential capacity to deploy these weapons using unconventional and covert delivery systems.
“Pyongyang probably is capable of weaponizing BW agents with unconventional systems such as sprayers and poison pen injection devices, which have been deployed by the DPRK for delivery of chemical weapons and could be used to covertly deliver BW agents,” the report said.
Despite being a State Party to the Biological Weapons Convention, or BWC, since 1987 – a treaty that bans the development, production, and stockpiling of such weapons – North Korea has shown little intention of abiding by its commitments.
After submitting a blank confidence-building measure report in 1990, claiming there was “nothing relevant” to disclose, the country has failed to submit any further reports for more than three decades.
“The DPRK is assessed to have had BW capabilities since at least the 1960s,” the report said.
The State Department concluded that North Korea’s actions violate Articles I and II of the convention. The U.S. would continue to monitor developments closely and assess prospects for diplomatic engagement to address Pyongyang’s breach of its obligations, the department said.
Moscow-Pyongyang cooperation
The State Department also raised concerns over a strategic partnership treaty signed between Russia and North Korea in mid-2024.
It warned that certain provisions in the agreement could violate Russia’s obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT.
The strategic partnership treaty outlines broad scientific and technological cooperation and explicitly mentions joint research in areas such as space, biology, artificial intelligence, information technology and nuclear energy.
While the treaty frames this cooperation as peaceful, officials have said that any civil nuclear collaboration between Moscow and Pyongyang must be assessed in light of Russia’s international legal commitments, according to the department.
As a nuclear-weapon state party to the non proliferation treaty, Russia is prohibited from aiding any non-nuclear weapon state – such as North Korea – in the development, acquisition, or manufacture of nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices, it said.
“Civil nuclear cooperation between Russia and the DPRK also could implicate Russia’s NPT obligations, depending upon the nature and circumstances of that cooperation,” said the department.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.