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Scientist: Pakistan knew of N. Korea nuke deal
Timeline |
 AFP-Getty Images file | Slide show: Traumatic history |
Pakistan has refused to allow outsiders to question Khan, including from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, but says it has shared the findings of its own questioning of Khan.
Khan said he had visited North Korea twice, in 1994, and then in 1999, when he was sent to procure missiles during the so-called Kargil conflict when Pakistan clashed with India in disputed Kashmir.
Khan told Kyodo that the missiles were shoulder-fired SA 15 missiles.
Khan told AP that Musharraf had requested him to make the second trip and he did so accompanied on a special plane by an army general, Iftikhar Hussain Shah.
"Since I had good relations with them (North Korea) and they respected me, they gave us 200 missiles after getting them from their army and those missiles were loaded in the same plane," Khan said.
He said after the Kargil conflict ended, Pakistan's government tried to return the missiles to North Korea to avoid paying for them but following his intervention, paid for and kept the weapons.
Khan was bitter in his criticism of Musharraf and confident in his own high standing among Pakistanis despite his 2004 confession.
"People still respect me, and if any one has any doubts and thinks himself more popular, he should go with me to Aabpara or Raja Bazar (two markets in Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi)," he said.
Comparing the reception he would get to that which would be accorded Musharraf, Khan said: "You can cut my nose if his (Musharraf's) clothes remained untorn."
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