GSN_Mar_YUMPU
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tackers<br />
tackers even if they had been wearing<br />
gloves, this indicates that “VX2”<br />
was applied as a binary weapon<br />
with two non-fatal components that<br />
would produce “VX” only on the<br />
victim’s face.<br />
North Korea wanted the West to<br />
know what it is capable of, but without<br />
causing mass casualties. They<br />
wanted everyone, especially the<br />
U.S., to know they used “VX”. Doing<br />
it publicly but not killing anyone<br />
else is a very visual way to reveal<br />
that capability and deterrent.<br />
Kim’s assassination is an insult to<br />
China, which had protected him for<br />
years by allowing him to live in the<br />
Chinese territory of Macau. This is<br />
clearly an embarrassment for the<br />
Chinese state security and to a lesser<br />
extent to the Malaysian government.<br />
Kim’s assassination has frayed<br />
relations between North Korea and<br />
Malaysia, which this week recalled<br />
its ambassador from Pyongyang.<br />
After North Korea’s ballistic missile<br />
launch and the assassination of<br />
Kim Jong Nam, China, announced<br />
it would ban all coal imports from<br />
North Korea, and according to CBS<br />
News was preparing for “regime collapse”<br />
in North Korea, and according<br />
to a defense official would “take<br />
the necessary measures to safeguard<br />
national security in the event of the<br />
collapse of the neighboring North Korean<br />
regime”.<br />
The economic impact of suspending<br />
coal imports would be severe<br />
and may force Pyongyang to the<br />
negotiating table. China imported<br />
about $1.89 billion of coal from<br />
North Korea last year, a significant<br />
proportion of the $2.5 billion in total<br />
Chinese imports from North Korea<br />
that year.<br />
Binary nerve agents<br />
In the 1950s, the U.S. Army began<br />
to develop “binary” nerve agent<br />
weapons to provide increased safety<br />
during storage and handling.<br />
In “unitary” agents, the chemicals<br />
were produced together. Because<br />
the nerve agents are highly toxic,<br />
storage, handling, and deployment<br />
13<br />
need to be performed with extreme<br />
caution. Unitary weapons therefore<br />
pose a risk to people who work<br />
with the chemicals. Binary weapon<br />
development began in the 1960s.<br />
Binary weapons involve non-toxic<br />
precursors that can be loaded in<br />
munitions. Once deployed, the precursors<br />
mix and produce the nerve<br />
agent.<br />
“VX and VX2”<br />
“VX2” is the name for “VX” formed<br />
in binary reactions. “VX2”, binary<br />
“VX”, is formed by the reaction of<br />
an organophosphate compound<br />
with Sulfur. The chemicals used to<br />
produce the binary nerve agents
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