LONDON, September 10. /TASS/. British officials fear that North Korea’s sudden advancement in developing nuclear weapons could be due to secret support from Tehran, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
High-ranking sources in the UK government do not believe that North Korean scientists alone ensured the country’s technological advances. The Foreign Office is investigating if current and former nuclear states helped Pyongyang to get these technologies.
"Iran is top of the list of countries suspected of giving some form of assistance, while Russia is also in the spotlight," the paper said.
The British authorities hope that finding out who had supplied nuclear technologies to North Korea would open up new diplomatic tools for exerting pressure on the regime that refuses to change its course despite economic sanctions.
Last month, The New York Times reported, citing the results of a research conducted by Senior Fellow for Missile Defense of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Michael Elleman and covert data of the American security agencies, that North Korea’s test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile might be connected with the black-market purchases of Ukrainian-made rocket engines.
On September 3, North Korea officially announced a successful test of a hydrogen bomb that could be used as a warhead for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The news met tough reaction of the world community. US President Donald Trump said Washington was considering plans of cutting off trade ties with those countries that do business with Pyongyang.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on all concerned parties to immediately resume dialogue and talks, saying that this is the only way to solve the problems of the Korean Peninsula.