Chemical and Biological Warfare During the Korean War: Rhetoric and Reality

Allegations have been made that the United States employed biological warfare against North Korea and China during the Korean War. This article looks at the communist propaganda campaign as well as at actual American programs and capabilities to employ non-nuclear weapons of mass destruction in Korea. The article finds that there were intensive U.S. efforts to develop and deploy biological and chemical weapons—efforts that were actually accelerated by fears the communist allegations were going to be a screen to justify their own germ warfare. Nevertheless, the conclusion here is that throughout the war U.S. forces had neither the capability nor the will to carry out such offensive operations.