The measures came on the heels of the revelation that a toxic chemical, the VX nerve agent, was used in the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam. (image not related to article: Flickr/ Republic of Korea Armed Forces)
SEJONG, Feb. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – A state-run institute on chemical safety said Monday it has taken a set of measures to secure state-of-the-art equipment for effectively dealing with chemical accidents and chemical terrorism at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and other major sports events.
The measures came on the heels of the revelation that a toxic chemical, the VX nerve agent, was used in the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam.
According to the National Institute of Chemical Safety, affiliated with the Environment Ministry, the equipment is comprised of 13 chemical agent detectors, six infrared spectrometers for analyzing solids and liquids, 13 drones and six vehicles for emergency spot inspections.
The devices and vehicles were deployed at seven regional branches of the ministry and six chemical disaster prevention centers across the country.
Chemical agent detectors are used to find out a total of 26 kinds of toxic materials in a time span of 10 to 90 seconds. The 26 materials include VX nerve gas, chlorine, formaldehyde, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and nitric acid.
With infrared spectrometers for analyzing solids and liquids, explosives such as triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) can be detected at sites of terrorism. TATP is the same explosive which was used in terrorist bombings in London, Paris and Brussels.
(Yonhap)
