A cargo of several tons of a chemical that can be used as a precursor to nerve gas was delivered to North Korea recently aboard the same ship that was intercepted last December hauling Scud missiles to Yemen, the Washington Times said Tuesday. Intelligence sources said the shipment of sodium cyanide arrived in the North Korean port of Nampo last week aboard the freighter Sosan, which had been stopped in the Indian Ocean by U.S. and Spanish warships as it sailed for Yemen with 15 missiles and warheads. The Sosan was allowed to continue its voyage with its cargo intact after U.S. officials determined that the Yemeni government had legally purchased the Scuds. After unloading in Yemen, the Sosan picked up the sodium cyanide in Germany and was tracked by U.S. intelligence services as it sailed back to North Korea, the Times said. Sodium cyanide is a toxic chemical that has a number of industrial uses, but is also a precursor to sarin, the lethal gas that was used in 1995 by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult to kill a dozen commuters in the Tokyo subway system. Full Story
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