Im was an officer in one of North Korea’s elite special forces. He fought for his government, even though it oppressed his people on a scale seldom seen before.

Im’s superior had a 12-year old mentally challenged daughter. She was a good girl, but not very intelligent. She needed a lot of attention from her parents; a mother and a father she loved very much.

There is no room for the mentally challenged in Kim Jong-Il’s North Korea, however. Im’s superior was told to hand his daughter over to the government. Because the officer knew what happens to such children in his country, he refused to play along. For a while, at least. Pressure was put on him, and he eventually gave in.

His daughter was led away; it was the last time he, or anyone else, saw her.

You see, the North Korean regime believes that the physically and mentally challenged are useful only if used as human guinea pigs. As Im put it: “If you are born mentally or physically deficient, says Im, the government says your best contribution to society… is as a guinea pig for biological and chemical weapons testing.”

The North has as many as 20 “chemical factories.” Mentally and physically challenged citizens and political prisoners are transferred to these camps, where they are killed by biological or chemical weapons. One of Im’s own men worked at one such camp. He told Im what he saw: first, the prisoners were forced into a glass chamber. Next, “poisonous gas was injected in. He watched doctors time how long it took for them to die.”

Kim Sang-hun, a retired UN official who has spent years investigating the North’s chemical and biological weapons program supports Im’s story. He told Al Jazeera that he has amassed a wealth of evidence about the North’s aggressive and robust biochemical weapons program. The country has as much as 5,000 tons of biological weaponry, Kim says, and its leaders test these weapons regularly on their own subjects.

“Human experimentation is a widespread practice,” Kim says.

“I hoped I was wrong, but it is the reality and it is taking place in North Korea and it is taking place at a number of locations.”

He added that “the program is now a commonly known fact in the North Korean public” – a statement with which officer Im agrees.

That’s bad, of course, but why should we care about what happens in North Korea? How does this relate to us? Well, simple: Pyongyang has a tremendous stockpile of these weapons, they have used them on their own people, and they are developing the weaponry they need to use these weapons on other countries and people as well. If they’re so eager to use them on their own kind, chances are they’ll also use them on others.

The UN Security Council now says it believes three of the seven missiles tested by the North on July 4 were Scud-ER missiles, which are known to be more accurate and have a range of 1,000km.

Tokyo is roughly 1,160km from the base on North Korea’s east coast from where the missiles were fired, while other parts of Japan are closer.

Im believes the government would not hesitate to use such arms, saying he has seen the “ruthlessness” of the country’s leaders.

North Korea is like a mentally deranged patient. It requires an understanding and above all knowledgeable doctor to deal with it effectively.

Sadly, that’s not where it stops. It’s more than just a patient, it’s a patient with weapons of mass destruction; an extremely dangerous one, in other words.

How to deal with such a person? I’ve got no idea, and I bet the Obama administration and European governments don’t have either.