Asia Pacific Jan 27, 2021
So far, only military veterans — from the U.S., Australia and Korea — have won compensation for the after-effects of the chemical.
National | Regional Voices: Kyushu Dec 27, 2019
Critics assail secrecy over unexploded chemical weapons left by Imperial Japanese Army
At the end of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army left a number of unexploded shells filled with poison gas used as munitions. In the 2000s, when such artillery shells were discovered and retrieved from the seabed off the coastal town of Kanda, ...
Business Jul 12, 2019
South Korea demands proof from Japan for accusation of export violations
South Korea said on Friday it deeply regrets accusations by some senior Japanese officials that South Korea did not enforce proper export control and Japan must present clear evidence for its assertion. South Korea has fully enforced U.N. sanctions on North Korea and international export ...
National / History Jul 8, 2019
The existence of a detailed report documenting how chemical weapons were used by the Imperial Japanese Army in China has been confirmed for the first time, a Japanese historian said Sunday. The official report, compiled by a frontline poison gas battalion posted in northern China, ...
World / Crime & Legal Jun 13, 2019
Syria bars access to chemical weapons investigators, says watchdog
Syrian officials have refused access to a newly created chemical weapons investigation team formed to identify culprits behind attacks with banned munitions, the organization's top official said in remarks published on Wednesday. Member countries of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted ...
Asia Pacific | ANALYSIS Feb 28, 2019
Focus on North Korea's nuclear arsenal obscures threat posed by chemical and biological weapons
by James Stavridis
As U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held their summit in Vietnam, the narrow focus on nuclear weapons obscured a major danger: Kim holds the whip in a three-ring circus of weapons of mass destruction. The other two rings, ...
World / Crime & Legal Nov 14, 2018
Chemical arms team to assign blame for Syrian attacks despite Russia, Iran opposition
The global chemical weapons watchdog will in February begin to assign blame for attacks with banned munitions in Syria's war, using new powers approved by member states but opposed by Damascus and its key allies Russia and Iran. The agency was handed the new task ...
World Oct 18, 2018
U.S. prepares for biggest-ever Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam
by Phil Stewart
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday visited a former American air base in southern Vietnam that will soon become the biggest-ever U.S. cleanup site for contamination left by the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Standing near a skull-and-crossbones warning sign meant to ...
World / Crime & Legal Oct 5, 2018
The United States on Thursday charged seven Russian intelligence officers with conspiring to hack computers and steal data from the nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric Co. as well as anti-doping watchdogs, sporting federations and an international agency probing the use of chemical weapons. The charges ...
World Sep 13, 2018
U.N. documents further Syrian regime use of banned chemical arms, fears Idlib 'massacre'
U.N. investigators said on Wednesday that they had documented three further uses of banned chlorine weapons by Syrian government forces that constituted war crimes, and urged major powers to help avert a "massacre" in the final battle for Idlib. The attacks caused injuries in the ...
World Sep 7, 2018
Syria is preparing chemical weapons for attacks in Idlib, U.S. envoy says
There is "lots of evidence" that chemical weapons are being prepared by Syrian government forces in Idlib in northwest Syria, the new U.S. adviser for Syria said on Thursday as he warned of the risks of an offensive on the country's last big rebel ...
World | FOCUS Sep 6, 2018
Planes, trains and fake perfume: How Novichok arrived in Britain
by Kitty Donaldson
The sheer audacity of Russia's chemical-weapon attack on the U.K. can be traced through the journey of a small — and fake — Nina Ricci Premier Jour perfume bottle. It contained Novichok, a lethal Soviet-era nerve agent, and was smuggled from Russia into Britain on ...