Pakistan Deeply Concerned By North Korean Nuclear Test Threat

NUKEWARS

It must be the extra competition in the nuclear blackmarket. Image: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

By Staff Writers
Islamabad (AFP) Oct 04, 2006
Pakistan, whose disgraced chief nuclear expert has admitted selling secrets to North Korea, said Wednesday that Pyongyang's threat to test an atomic bomb was of "deep concern". The Pakistani foreign ministry also urged restraint from North Korea after the Stalinist state said Tuesday it would be compelled to carry out a nuclear weapons test due to threats and sanctions from the United States.

"The announcement by the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea regarding its intention to conduct a nuclear weapons test is a matter of deep concern for Pakistan," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We urge the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea to desist from introducing nuclear weapons in the Korean peninsula which would be highly destabilising for the region."

The statement said Pyongyang "must exercise restraint and return to the six party talks."

North Korea has boycotted the talks aimed at persuading it to drop its nuclear ambitions since November. The talks group the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States are parties to the talks.

Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan remains at the centre of an international probe into proliferation after admitting on television in 2004 that he had sold nuclear secrets to North Korea, Iran and Libya.

Khan transferred nearly two dozen centrifuges to North Korea, President Pervez Musharraf said in his memoirs published last week. Learning about Khan's activities was one of the saddest moments of his career, he added.

Still hailed as a hero by the Pakistani public, Khan was pardoned by Musharraf shortly after his confession and is effectively living under house arrest in Islamabad. He was diagnosed with cancer in August.

Pakistan is the only declared state in the Islamic world with nuclear weapons.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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