South Korean officials say medical tests on one of the four soldiers who defected from the North this year might reveal Pyongyang's secret weapons programs - the defector carried antibodies to the bacteria that causes Anthrax.

"Anthrax antibodies have been found in the North Korean soldier who defected this year," a South Korean intelligence official told the local news network Channel A, suggesting that the man had been given a vaccine.  Anthrax can kill at least 80 percent of those who are exposed to the bacterium in 24 hours, unless antibiotics are taken or vaccination is available.  South Korea's military won't have an Anthrax vaccine until the end of 2019.

Anthrax

It's believed the soldier in question is the third one to defect in 2017, who dramatically dashed through the Panmunjom peace village despite having been shot by some of his fellow Northern soldiers.  Part of the escape was caught on surveillance video at the fortified border crossing.

This soldier was in bad physical condition even before being shot in his knee, arm, back, and chest.  Oh Chong-song's intestines were riddled with tapeworms, some as long as ten inches, and he was infected with Hepatitis-B.  These show problems with nutrition and hygiene in the military, which usually gets the best of what's available in North Korea.

Japan's Asahi Shimbum newspaper this week reported that officials in Tokyo and Washington had recently become aware of North Korean plans to test the possibility of loading anthrax-laden warheads on its intercontinental ballistic missiles. 

North Korea

US forces in South Korea also experiment with Anthrax - a 2015 report said South Korea's Defense Ministry confirmed the Americans imported samples of anthrax 15 times since 2009, and a shipment in 2015 exposed as many as 22 people.