Watchdog looks to counter new chemical weapons threats

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — With about 92 percent of the world's declared chemical weapons stockpiles destroyed, the watchdog agency overseeing the elimination of poison gas and nerve agents is looking now to counter emerging threats from extremist groups while still dealing with unfinished business in Syria.

There have been repeated reports of chemical attacks in Syria's devastating civil war and a U.N.-mandated investigation is underway aimed at apportioning blame for nine cases in 2014 and 2015.

The widely available substance is sold the world over for legitimate purposes such as water purification, but chlorine gas also was used in the first large-scale chemical weapons attack by German forces in World War I.

Ralf Trapp, a former OPCW staffer who is now an independent disarmament and non-proliferation consultant, says protecting people from attacks using readily available chemicals is a difficult balancing act.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's government declared a 1,300-ton chemical weapons stockpile and 14 production facilities, triggering an unprecedented international operation to remove weapons and chemicals from the war-torn country and destroy them.

Can you isolate the chemical weapons issue from the rest of the security situation on the Korean peninsula? he said If you could do that, you could talk to the Koreans and try to get a process going.