N. Korea denies Syria chemical weapons claim

By Alex Jensen
SEOUL (AA) - North Korea denied supporting the production of chemical weapons in Syria Friday, insisting it is opposed to their use.
The New York Times last week cited a United Nations panel report claiming that Pyongyang supplied materials and personnel to help Syria make such weapons.
But the North's state-run media hit back by accusing the U.S. of being the first user of chemical weapons and employing biochemical munitions to kill around 50,000 people during the 1950-53 Korean War.
"As had been elucidated several times, (North Korea) does not have a single record of developing, producing and stockpiling a chemical weapon, and it is opposed to chemical weapons themselves," a spokesperson for Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the North's KCNA news agency.
But Pyongyang is widely suspected of having an arsenal of chemical agents at its disposal, and was accused of using the toxic nerve agent VX to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, at an airport in Malaysia last year.

The North is also operating under heavy global sanctions for openly developing its own nuclear weapons, which it says are aimed at countering American aggression.