Both the nuclear explosions that took place in North Korea this year are “Made in Pakistan”, according to those tracking the nuclear trajectory of the East Asian country.
Cooperation in the development of nuclear weapons between Pakistan and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been ongoing since the 1970s but accelerated some years after the 1998 Chagai tests by Pakistan.
From end-2005 onwards, a hyper secretive programme of cooperation between the DPRK military and the Pakistan army was begun.
Before the North Korean assistance, the results of Pakistan’s laboratory tests were meagre, although externally, the spin given was that the military establishment in Pakistan had perfected a nuclear weapon and indeed had more such items in stock than India.
The Pakistan army has opted to go the field testing route for its nuclear weapons program, except that such tests are being conducted by North Korea, with the results being made available to Pakistan almost instantaneously.