North Korea developing ‘DEVIL’S VENOM’ to wipe out United States

North Korea developing ‘DEVIL’S VENOM’ to wipe out United States

FWS - US experts are warning there is evidence Kim Jong-un’s regime is producing the volatile liquid to power intercontinental missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the US mainland.

The hermit kingdom used to import the propellant, whose scientific name is unsymmetrical di-methyl-hydrazine (UDMH), from China and Russia.

But recent UN sanctions slapped on the country last month mean its imports have dried up.

Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the East Asia Non-proliferation programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, California, warned North Korea could easily have produced stockpiles of the fuel.

He said: “North Korea is hardly so backwards that UDMH production would come as a surprise.

“Over the years, a variety of liquid and solid rocket propellants have been found in seized cargoes from North Korea.”

And the toxic fuel is so dangerous that the United States stopped using it years ago, with space agency NASA even issuing a warning about it.

UDMH was also the fuel used in the Soviet Union rocket disaster in 1960 that killed at least 124 people.

Ankit Panda, the Asia analyst at The Diplomat said yesterday: “Nothing about [North Korea’s] missile testing patterns suggests they’re vulnerable to supply shocks from an overseas supplier, be it China or Russia, cutting them off.

“All signs point to a domestic propellant and oxidizer manufacturing base that’s sufficient to fuel its own missiles.”

It comes as North Korea said its threat to carry out a huge nuclear test of the Pacific Ocean should be taken “literally”.

"The foreign minister is very well aware of the intentions of our supreme leader, so I think you should take his words literally," Ri Yong Pil, a senior diplomat in North Korea's Foreign Ministry said this week.(dailystar)