North Korea and Iran are jointly working on weapons programmes designed to build a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, a leading British security think tank has said
According to a study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), North Korea's weapons programmes are now benefiting from technology from Iran.
Pyongyang also possesses technology that would enable Iran's uranium enrichment programme to increase its output. However concrete evidence that North Korea has supplied the Iranians with its superior equipment has not been uncovered by IISS.
The disclosure marks a disturbing escalation in the race for nuclear weapons technology by the two states which are seen to present the biggest threat to global security.
Mark Fitzpatrick, the IISS expert on weapons proliferation, said North Korea possessed a technological edge over Iran in making nuclear equipment.
It was capable of manufacturing high strength steel that Iran has been unable to manufacture. Iran has instead relied on carbon fibre materials that are less reliable.
"What previously had been a one way flow of North Korean missile technology to Iran is now going two ways," he said. "North Korea may be self-sufficient in its uranium programme and there are some areas where Iran can't produce equipment that North Korea has the capacity to produce."
The emergence of a North Korean "comparative advantage" over Iran in uranium enrichment has caught experts by surprise. Iran has been working for 20 years on manufacturing advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium to weapons grade. However North Korea has make the breakthrough to produce advanced machines where Iran had failed.
The IISS's fears over North Korea's activities are widely shared by defence experts.
"North Korea has been assisting Iran in going forward with its nuclear programme," said Bruce Bennett, the senior defence analyst at the Rand Corporation, a US think tank. "North Korea has been providing help to Iran with missile technology and testing (nuclear) triggering devices while Iran has only more recently done that kind of thing."
The Telegraph
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