Pakistan Bought Long-Range Missile Technology from North Korea

Pakistan bought long-range missile technology from North Korea in the mid 1990s, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto revealed recently.

“My visit to North Korea in December 1993 helped make a deal concerning the missile technology,” the former prime minister, who lives in exile in Britain, said during the interview with Asahi Shimbun. “But, it was not a nuclear-missile trade-off. We paid cash for the technology.”

Pakistan has claimed that it developed missiles with its own technology after a successful flight test of ballistic missiles capable of reaching most targets in India in April 1998.

“Even though I promised with the military not to export nuclear technology right after my inauguration in 1988, I was suggested that the sales of nuclear weapons would bring in huge amounts of money,” said Bhutto. She added that only a couple of countries actually made an offer, with just $200 million to $300 million, so she abandoned the idea.

“The former military regimes had discussed exporting nuclear technology even before I took office. I was once briefed that former governments had negotiated with Islamic countries about a nuclear trade-off,” said the ex-prime minister.

Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com