While the exact composition of North Korea's chemical weapons programs is unknown, it is believed to possess between 2,500 and 5,000 metric tons of chemical weapons and the capacity to produce up to 12,000 metric tons.

Among its stockpiles, North Korea is suspected to have nerve agents such as VX and sarin, blister agents such as mustard gas, toxins that attack the blood and respiratory system, as well as crowd control agents. North Korea is also suspected to have supplied chemical weapons to its forward deployed units near the DMZ.

In addition to chemical weapons, North Korea also possesses the capability to cultivate biological weapons. According to the South Korean Ministry of Defense, North Korea is capable of cultivating biological agents such as anthrax, small pox, and other pathogens. Other sources have suggested that North Korea can produce pathogens such as cholera, the plague, and dysentery.

Although North Korea is a party to the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention, it is not a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Any agreement on North Korea's weapons programs should achieve three objectives in relations to Pyongyang's chemical and biological weapons programs.

North Korea should make a full declaration of its chemical and biological weapons, it should agree to fully dismantle its programs and not reconstitute them, and it should agree to become a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.