Japanese firms played key role in Pakistan's nuclear program

Monday 16th February, 05:49 AM JST

ISLAMABAD/TOKYO —

Japanese companies played a key role in supplying equipment used for Pakistan’s nuclear development, investigations by Kyodo News in Islamabad and Tokyo have revealed in recent days.

Comments by Pakistan’s disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and former employees of the companies reveal in detail for the first time how leading Japanese manufacturers knowingly and unknowingly helped Pakistan acquire nuclear capability and were incorporated into its supply framework.

Pakistan began work on its nuclear program after the 1974 nuclear test by India, and Khan was put in charge of Pakistan’s uranium enrichment program in 1976. Another organization, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, was also given the job to develop the plutonium route to a nuclear weapon.

From then on, Khan’s organization, Khan Research Laboratories, and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission were working on parallel programs—the uranium enrichment route and the plutonium route—to give Pakistan nuclear capability. Both the organizations imported sizable amounts of equipment and materials into Pakistan.

Uranium enrichment is a technically demanding process that requires sophisticated equipment to transform natural uranium into nuclear fuel.

Investigations revealed that both Khan and the head of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission visited Japan at least once in the 1980s to shop for their respective programs.

Khan, dubbed the ‘‘father of Pakistan’s nuclear program,’’ told Kyodo News in a written interview that Khan Research Laboratories acquired a wide range of machines, laboratory equipment and metal products from Japan.

One of the major acquisitions was the import of ring magnets, a key device required to manufacture centrifuges used for enriching uranium, Khan said.

Like several other countries ‘‘Japan was also a very, very important country for our imports,’’ he said.

Khan identified several Japanese companies from which materials, machines and equipment was acquired.

According to Khan, a mid-sized Tokyo-based trading company, Western Trading, which went bankrupt in 2004, acted as the point of contact with Khan’s side.

Mian Mohammad Farooq, a late Pakistani businessman who headed a Pakistani trading company, brokered several important transactions for Pakistan’s nuclear program with Japan and several other countries. Western Trading entered into business relations in the late 1970s with Farooq, who is believed to have put Khan Research Laboratories in touch with Western Trading.

According to a former employee of Western Trading who spoke on condition of anonymity, the company in the late 1980s exported to Pakistan at least 6,000 ring magnets made by a major Japanese metals producer. Khan also confirmed the imports from Japan.

The former employee said he never heard what the magnets would be used for.

‘‘As a businessmen of a trading company, the priority is to sell goods,’’ he said, but hastened to add, ‘‘of course I always obeyed the export laws.’‘

Khan also told Kyodo News that another key purchase was an electron microscope from Japan Electron Optics Laboratory. An electron microscope is required for testing the strength of the alloys used in the manufacture of centrifuges.

A former JEOL employee of who spoke on condition of anonymity said two such microscopes and an X-ray diffractometer were sold to Khan’s organization for more than 60 million yen. In the interview, he clearly indicated that he was aware of the nuclear nature of the work in which Khan was involved.

‘‘Khan said he wanted to buy a JEOL electron microscope,’’ the former employee said. ‘‘The negotiations went smoothly.’‘

In Tokyo, JEOL confirmed in response to a query by Kyodo News that it had exported an electron microscope to Khan Research Laboratories in the 1980s but said it was unaware of the work in which the organization was involved.

Kyodo News was also able to confirm that another company, Hitachi Seiki, which went bankrupt in 2002, also supplied equipment such as automatic lathes to Khan through Western Trading.

In addition, maraging steel, beryllium thin sheets, beryllium-copper rods and other metal alloys having nuclear applications were also acquired from Japanese firms, according to Khan.

A Pakistani court earlier this month declared Khan a free man, abolishing his five-year house arrest and other government-imposed restrictions.

Khan, who headed Pakistan’s nuclear enrichment program from 1976 to 2001, confessed in 2004 to transferring nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, but he later retracted the confession and claimed he had been framed and made a scapegoat.

He was pardoned in 2004 by then President Pervez Musharraf in consideration of his services to Pakistan’s nuclear program, but remained under virtual house arrest.

According to the court verdict, Khan is now free to talk to the media and express his views in public, free to carry out research and free to move across the country so long as he informs the government of his movements in advance, for security reasons.

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8 Comments

OssanAmerica at 08:39 AM JST - 16th February

And by extension, North Korea's nuclear program.
soldave at 08:44 AM JST - 16th February

Japan: helping countries get nukes then complaining when they do since 1945.
smithinjapan at 10:45 AM JST - 16th February

I'd say 'ironic', but it's not like it was entirely unsuspected.
bushlover at 12:18 PM JST - 16th February

They should teach them how to mix in galvanized buckets. That always gets the ball rolling.
WMD at 12:22 PM JST - 16th February

Ha ha aha you've got to laugh. What with the annual "victim" japan fest.
escape_artist at 01:15 PM JST - 16th February

For the most part, my belief is that compared with Western companies, in general Japanese firms have far fewer morals or scruples when it comes to making money. If ways can be found to make money from the dictators of the world, Japanese companies will do so, seemingly with tacit government approval, too. In Japan Inc., money is largely the only thing that really matters; people be damned, the environment be damned, and any concept of blowback from their actions be damned, as possibly here. My experience is that recent CSR moves are largely a ruse in order to simply look good to the public without a deep consciousness of CSR essentials.

I've not heard of any laws on the books in Japan that outlaw this sort of corporate irresponsibility. Are there any? Or any international laws outlawing such behavior that Japan has signed onto?
Bgood41 at 02:58 PM JST - 16th February

An important lesson for Japanese international business dealings. Any dual uses nuclear related devices must receive the clearance from the government. Making few quick millions at the cost of future stability for Japan , is truly a grave mistake. If any Japanese think that N.Korea, China, Russia, and most part of Muslim nations are their trusted friends; I have only one word "Naive". Please stop making the stupid mistake again for your better future generation. Thanks.
LFRAgain at 03:32 PM JST - 16th February

And yet there's outrage that an American nuclear powered aircraft carrier is parked offshore...

Nothing else to do but shake your head in disbelief...