New Delhi: While protesting against the third nuclear test by North Korea, India sees it as evidence of a clandestine proliferation network from Pakistan. Indian sources stressed that if the test was found to have been conducted with enriched uranium, it would confirm Pakistani “proliferation linkages”, Dispatch News Desk reported on Wednesday.
New Delhi warned Pyongyang “to refrain from such actions which adversely impact on peace and stability in the region”. Sources said the test revealed significantly improved technical capabilities of the North Koreans, which in itself suggested heightened proliferation activities. “If the speculation is correct that the test was carried out through enriched uranium, it would demonstrate cascading and clandestine proliferation linkages,” a source said.
KCNA, North Korea’s official news agency, said, “It was confirmed that the nuclear test that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment.”
“When you talk about any nuclear test conducted by North Korea, the role of Pakistan can never be far behind,” Indian media quote an un-known “official sources in Delhi”, which also see a link between the North Korean neculear test and Pakistan’s blocking moves to facilitate negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) in the Conference on Disarmament.
