The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, has said he will take revenge on the United States for Washington’s accusal that the rogue regime was responsible for the WannaCry ransomware attack earlier this year. In timely fashion, Kim has also ordered his military to begin the testing of the chemical agent anthrax.

North Korea has been loading anthrax into int’s controversial ballistic missiles. But the regime and military scientists have been trying to ensure that anthrax would survive the high temperatures generated when the missiles re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.  Anthrax is a serious infectious disease caused by gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria known as Bacillus anthracis. The regime today rejected the claim as “groundless” and insisted it was fulfilling its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) which prohibits the production or stockpile of biowarfare weapons.

North Korean state television reported last month the launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile, Hwasong 15, which is a nuclear-capable weapon which could fly as far as America.

A report in Japan’s Asahi newspaper warned the regime may have “already succeeded” in its experiments. The article, which cites an anonymous source connected to South Korean intelligence, says: “North Korea has started experiments such as heat and pressure equipment to prevent anthrax from dying even at a high temperature of over 7,000 degrees generated at the time of ICBM’s re-entry into the atmosphere. In part, there is unconfirmed information that it has already succeeded in such experiments.”

This comes as the regime warns the United States that they will enact revenge for the accusation that North Korea was responsible for the WannaCry ransomware attack that affected 230,000 computers.  “The [WannaCry] attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible,” Thomas P. Bossert, Trump’s homeland security adviser, said in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. “We do not make this allegation lightly. It is based on evidence. We are not alone with our findings, either.”

“This was a reckless attack and it was meant to cause havoc and destruction,” Bossert said at a news conference. Drawing a connection between North Korea’s alleged cyber activities and its development of nuclear weapons, he added, “I think, at this point, North Korea has demonstrated that they want to hold the entire world at risk, whether it be through its nuclear program or cyberattacks.”

“The DPRK, as a state party to the BWC, maintains its consistent stand to oppose development, manufacture, stockpiling and possession of biological weapons,” said North Korean state-run propaganda media. “The more the US clings to the anti-DPRK stifling move, the more hardened the determination of our entire military personnel and people to take revenge will be.”

Despite the North’s denials, experts believe Kim may have one of the largest arsenals of bioweapons in the world.