Location: Mt. Taesŏng (大城山), Taesŏng-kuyŏk (大城區域), Pyongyang (平壤市), North Korea

Subordinate to: Academy of Agriculture農業科學院), Ministry of Agriculture  (農業省), Cabinet (內閣)

[Note 1: The Academy of Medical Sciences was founded in June 1958 by merging the Medical Treatment Science Research Institute (醫療科學硏究所), the Medical Herb Department (藥草院科), and the Medical Field Research Institute (醫學分野硏究所). Both the Medical Treatment Science Research Institute and the Medical Herb Department were placed under the Academy of Sciences (科學院), and the Medical Field Research Institute was under the  Ministry of Public Health (保健省). When founded, the Academy of Medical Sciences was called the Medical Science Research Institute (醫學科學硏究院). The name was changed to the “Academy of Medical Sciences (醫學科學院)” in November 1963, but it was changed to the “Medical Science Research Institute” in February 1994. The institute is currently called the “Academy of Medical Sciences,” but it is unclear when the designation changed. Note 2: The Medical Science Research Institute was subordinate to the Academy of Sciences from 1994, but it came under the control of the Ministry of Public Health in 1998].

Primary Function: Research and development; prevention of animal diseases

Description: The Veterinary Research Institute was founded in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s, but any connections to the North Korean BW program are unclear. According to North Korea media sources, Kim Il Sung met with institute founder Kim Chong Hŭi in 1947 to discuss education and research in the field of animal diseases, as well as the need for veterinary vaccines. The institute was reportedly under construction in May the following year. The major function of this facility is research on animal livestock diseases, but there is suspicion that this facility also carries out research on biological warfare (BW) agents. In 1942, while Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, Kim Chong Hŭi was reportedly working at a “livestock hygiene institute” in Pusan. Kim reported that the institute “was engaged in top secret scientific research—not for people but against them.” The Japanese Army’s 9th Technical Research Institute reportedly conducted research in cooperation with the “livestock hygiene institute,” including the development of a powdered, rinderpest virus weapon against cattle. In his book 731 Menseki no Keifu, Japanese journalist Masakatsu Ota reported that this rinderpest weapon was successfully tested outside Pusan. Given Kim Chong Hŭi’s history with the “livestock hygiene institute” and his role in the Veterinary Research Institute, the institute could have carried on the BW-related research that was reportedly conducted at his former organization. Despite the suspicious links to a clandestine BW program, the Veterinary Research Institute is not mentioned as a possible site for North Korea’s BW program in the current literature on North Korea’s BW capabilities.

	Updated July 2003

Key Sources:
“DPRK's Veterinary Institute Protecting Livestock, Possibly Involved in BW,” 16 August 2001, FBIS Document ID: KPP20010816000109; South Korea Ministry of Unification, Pukhan Kaeyo 2000 (Seoul: Ministry of Unification, 1999), pp. 408-411; Lee Chae Sŭng, Pukhan’ŭl Umjig’i’nŭn Technocrat (Seoul: Ilbit, 1998), pp. 198-200.