AQ Khan says N Korea’s nuclear technology ‘much better than Pakistan’s’

Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has denied that Pakistan aided North Korea’s nuclear programme, saying Pyongyang’s technology is much better than Pakistan’s.

During a telephonic interview with BBC Urdu the other day, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear programme said that North Korea was self-reliant in the nuclear field because of its highly qualified group of scientists. He revealed that he had visited North Korea twice under a missile programme.

“Their scientists are highly capable, and most of them have studied in Russia,” he said.

When asked if North Korea got any assistance from Pakistan’s nuclear programme, Dr Khan said: “It’s out of the question. Their overall technology is better than ours. We have the same old and conventional technology. We never saw their facilities nor ever discussed the programme.”

However, he said Pakistan’s cooperation with North Korea for the missile programme was a known fact. “In fact, the Pakistani government itself announced that we were in contact with North Korea,” he said.

Pyongyang successfully tested a modern hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on September 3.

According to Dr Khan, North Korea’s hydrogen bomb has the capacity to destroy any city within minutes.

“Hydrogen bombs are much more powerful than atom bombs. For instance, an atom bomb may destroy the area in the radius of 1 to 2 kilometres, but a hydrogen bomb can devastate an entire city,” he said.