By KUNA,
Tokyo : Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan visited Japan in 1984 and obtained key components essential to Pakistan’s nuclear program, Japan’s Kyodo News Agenct reported Monday, citing a family friend.
“Khan visited Japan in 1984 and met many bosses of big firms,” Kyodo quoted the friend as saying.
“One of the company executives he met was chairman of a trading company who had served as naval attache in Berlin during the WWII.” But the friend — who had close contact with the scientist, who is under virtual house arrest — did not disclose the nature of the components Khan bought during his 1984 trip, according to the report.
Another source familiar with Pakistan’s nuclear program said Khan, known as “the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb,” also visited Japan in 1977 and bought a so-called uninterrupted power supply device from a Japanese company for the uranium enrichment facility he was building at Kahuta near Rawalpindi.
Pakistan launched its nuclear program in 1972 and exploded a nuclear device in May 1998, shortly after rival India carried out a similar nuclear test.
The power-supply device bought in Japan was reportedly capable of supplying 8 megawatts of power during a power outage.
US and European companies had reportedly refused to sell such power systems to Pakistan.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Khan dealt with individuals and corporations from about 30 countries through a black market network he built for Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.