For a long time, there has been a suspicion that Pakistan has been the provider of the nuclear program of North Korea. Certain American administrations have known and confirmed that the Pakistan-North Korea nuclear relationship is real, thanks to inputs from the Central Intelligence Agency (or CIA).

The father of the Pakistani atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, had even confessed in 2004 to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

This month, Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani nuclear physicist, indicated in his report to the German media outlet, Deutsche Welle, that A. Q. Khan did not act alone, and that there was a lot more complexity in the sharing of these nuclear secrets.

In his report, Pervez Hoodbhoy said how Pakistan’s nuclear secrets were guarded very severely, so these secrets could only have been leaked to North Korea if there were more people in agreement.

Furthermore, in order to smuggle out the centrifuges, more people had to have been on the plan in order to transport them, since each centrifuge weighs half a ton.

Lately, North Korea is known to be conducting nuclear tests. This could put all of the world in danger if these tests prove to be successful, and if North Korea decides to put its nuclear weapons to military use.

In a recent trilateral meeting between India, the United States, and Japan, the Union Minister of India, Sushma Swaraj, took a swipe at North Korea’s recent nuclear tests, and, in turn, at Pakistan’s provision of these nuclear secrets. He deplored the exuberant testing of North Korean missiles, saying that their proliferation linkages must be explored.

Last week, India made a joint statement with Japan that also condemned the North Korean nuclear program.

Both statements said that all people involved in and supporting the operation must be held accountable, and that if North Korea continues to conduct these tests, then they will be providing a grave threat to global peace.

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