02-28-2004, 02:44 AM
This news report, if true, could belie the claims that Khan was acting without the knowledge of the Pakistan government.
USA should get serious about the threat posed by the islamic nuke in Pakistan, rather than shoving the problem under the carpet. It may be too late for tears if USA doesn't act with alacrity.
Kalyanaraman
Did Pakistan, N Korea conduct joint N-tests?
AFP[ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2004 01:38:43 AM ]
WASHINGTON: Pakistan may have helped North Korea test a plutonium-based nuclear device in 1998, former and current US intelligence officials were quoted in a report as saying on Friday.
Satellite image of Pakistan nuclear test site.
The report could influence the ongoing six-party talks in Beijing over North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons program.
Clues to the possible joint nuclear test followed underground nuclear tests carried out by Pakistan in May 1998, the paper said.
According to the sources, a US military jet sent to sample the air over Baluchistan, Pakistan, after the final nuclear test found traces of plutonium, which surprised US experts since Pakistan had openly stated that it was testing bombs fuelled by highly enriched uranium.
The explanations for the plutonium included the possibility that North Korea could have given Pakistan some of its plutonium to conduct a joint test of an atomic weapon, the sources said.
The matter was debated but never settled and was mostly forgotten until Pakistani scientist and architect of the country's atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, confessed last month that he passed nuclear technology on to North Korea, Libya and Iran.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...525280.cms
USA should get serious about the threat posed by the islamic nuke in Pakistan, rather than shoving the problem under the carpet. It may be too late for tears if USA doesn't act with alacrity.
Kalyanaraman
Did Pakistan, N Korea conduct joint N-tests?
AFP[ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2004 01:38:43 AM ]
WASHINGTON: Pakistan may have helped North Korea test a plutonium-based nuclear device in 1998, former and current US intelligence officials were quoted in a report as saying on Friday.
Satellite image of Pakistan nuclear test site.
The report could influence the ongoing six-party talks in Beijing over North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons program.
Clues to the possible joint nuclear test followed underground nuclear tests carried out by Pakistan in May 1998, the paper said.
According to the sources, a US military jet sent to sample the air over Baluchistan, Pakistan, after the final nuclear test found traces of plutonium, which surprised US experts since Pakistan had openly stated that it was testing bombs fuelled by highly enriched uranium.
The explanations for the plutonium included the possibility that North Korea could have given Pakistan some of its plutonium to conduct a joint test of an atomic weapon, the sources said.
The matter was debated but never settled and was mostly forgotten until Pakistani scientist and architect of the country's atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, confessed last month that he passed nuclear technology on to North Korea, Libya and Iran.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...525280.cms