Khan: Military flew centrifuges to North Korea

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan | The disgraced architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program said Friday that the country provided centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army under then-military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, who remains a national hero despite confessing four years ago to heading a clandestine proliferation network, said in a phone interview that the uranium-enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials.

His claims contradict his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya - and Pakistan’s repeated denials its army or government knew about Mr. Khan’s nuclear-proliferation activities.

Mr. Khan said that the army had “complete knowledge” of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that it must have been sent with the consent of Mr. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and declared himself president in 2001.

“It was a North Korean plane, and the army had complete knowledge about it and the equipment,” Mr. Khan said. “It must have gone with [Mr. Musharraf’s] consent.”

Mr. Khan’s allegations, reported earlier Friday by the Japanese agency Kyodo News, are his most controversial yet and could prove deeply embarrassing for both the army and Mr. Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror.

Mr. Khan also said that he had traveled to North Korea in 1999 with a Pakistan army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles from Pyongyang.

Musharraf spokesman Rashid Qureshi rejected Mr. Khan’s claims. “I can say with full confidence that it is all lies and false statements,” he said.

Army and Foreign Ministry spokesmen declined immediate comment.

Mr. Khan is regarded as a hero by many in Pakistan for his key role in the program that gave it the Islamic world’s first nuclear bomb in 1998, seen as a deterrent against historic archrival India.

After his 2004 confession and televised statement of contrition, Mr. Khan was pardoned by Mr. Musharraf but has been kept under virtual house arrest at his spacious villa in Islamabad.

Since a new civilian government took power after February elections, eclipsing Mr. Musharraf, the retired scientist has increasingly spoken out in the media.

Mr. Khan’s wife this week said she was challenging her husband’s detention in court. The Khans have appointed an attorney to petition the Islamabad High Court for an end to the restrictions on his movements and for his freedom to speak to the media.

Mr. Khan’s bald accusation that the military establishment was in the know adds to widespread skepticism that he could have exported nuclear technology under the radar of Pakistan’s pervasive security apparatus.

“No flight, no equipment could go outside without the clearance from the ISI and SPD and they used to be at the airport, not me,” Mr. Khan said, referring to the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency and the Strategic Planning Division, which manages Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.