Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

has both diplomatic and economic relationships with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. The start of relations between the two countries emerged sometime in the 1970s during the democratic prime ministerialship of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

, when he made a state visit to North Korea as part of his foreign policy campaign to strengthen the relations with socialist states. Pakistan has an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

while North Korea maintains an

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

, a vast Consulate-General in Karachi, and consulates in other cities of Pakistan. Pakistani public opinion towards North Korea seem to be largely divided, with 27% viewing it positively and 27% expressing a negative view.

History

Iran–Iraq war

Pakistan is believed to have also been forging alliances between North Korea, Iran and Libya. During the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, North Korea and Pakistan supported Iran. North Korean made weapons and military equipment were shipped to the Pakistani port city of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

from where they were transported by land and escorted by the

Pakistan armed forces The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consists of three uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backe ...

to the Iranian border. The Iranian state then used them to strike at Iraqi targets.

Allegations of nuclear assistance by Pakistan

Pakistan has been accused by US officials of having secretly supplied North Korea with nuclear technology for military purposes. The

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

claimed to have tracked several air shipments between the two countries via

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

. The US Government believes that

A. Q. Khan Abdul Qadeer Khan (1 April 1936 – 10 October 2021) was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and metallurgical engineer. He is colloquially known as the "father of Pakistan's atomic weapons program". A Muhajir emigrant from India who migrated t ...

, a senior atomic research scientist, had travelled to North Korea several times and provided crucial technological aid to the North Korean government to create HEU.

2002 scandal

In 2002, information leaked that Pakistan had been the source of North Korea's recent development in nuclear warheads, according to US intelligence officials. Abdul Qadeer Khan was placed under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

by the

Pakistan government The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, cons ...

and was made to publicly apologize to the Pakistan public for "embarrassing" the country. The Pakistani government declined repeated calls for weapons inspectors to investigate Pakistan's nuclear facilities or any attempts for the CIA to directly question Khan, despite growing Western pressure.

Trade relations

is said to have had long-time

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

al relations with the North Korean government since the early 1970s. Faced with having a weakened

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

during the 1990s and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

's reluctance to face Western pressure about selling its ''M-11'' missiles, Pakistan sought an alternate supplier, in this case North Korea.

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

had met with North Korean officials on several occasions during the 1990s to discuss a deal that would give Pakistan access to the North Korean Rodong long-range missiles. In return, Pakistan would supply North Korea with civilian nuclear technology instead of money, due to lack of funds. The exchanges between the two countries were confidential and secretive.

also has a

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

. As close allies of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, North Korea and Pakistan have been cooperating with each other in educational and cultural exchanges.

References

External links

A Pakistan-North Korea connection?
{{DEFAULTSORT:North Korea-Pakistan relations Bilateral relations of Pakistan