Pakistan has dismissed scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's statement that North Korea bribed top military officials in Islamabad to obtain access to sensitive nuclear technology in the late 1990s, as "totally baseless and preposterous".
During a press briefing, Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua was asked to comment on the Washington Post story related to Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan and the alleged transfer of technology to North Korea, involving bribes to senior government officials.
"Such stories have a habit of reoccurring. My only comment is that it is totally baseless and preposterous," Janjua replied, referring to the WP news story about Khan's claims.
Khan has made available documents that he says support his claim that he personally transferred more than 3 million dollars in payments by North Korea to senior officers in the Pakistani military, which he says subsequently approved his sharing of technical know-how and equipment with North Korean scientists, The Washington Post reported.
Khan also has released what he says is a copy of a North Korean official's 'secret' July 15, 1998 letter to him written in English, which spells out details of the clandestine deal.
Some Western intelligence officials and other experts have said that they think the letter is authentic, and that it offers confirmation of a transaction they have long suspected but could never prove, the report said.
While the North Korean government did not respond to requests for comment about the letter, Pakistani officials, including those named as recipients of the cash, have called the letter a fake, the report added.
If the letter is genuine, it would reveal a remarkable instance of corruption related to nuclear weapons, the report said.
US officials have worried for decades about the potential involvement of elements of Pakistan's military in illicit nuclear proliferation, partly because terrorist groups in the region and governments of other countries are eager to acquire an atomic bomb or the capacity to build one. ANI
