NTI: Country Overviews: North Korea: Nuclear Import/Export

Nuclear Imports

Other Countries

Year/Date	Exporter	Item(s)	Remarks
Mid-1960s	Austria	Nuclear equipment	Reported by defector Ko Yŏng Hwan in 1991.
July 1972	Canada	Nuclear expertise	Dr. Kim Kyŏng Ha, “a famous atomic bomb specialist,” goes to North Korea from Canada, allegedly to work on nuclear weapons.
1952	China	Nuclear expertise	Suspected; China sends specialists to North Korea to “collect radioactive material.”
1964	China	Technical assistance in surveying uranium deposits
1974	China	Nuclear training/expertise
March 1977	China	Nuclear expertise
December 2002	Chinese firms	20 tons of tributyl phosphate (TBP)	On 9 December, the Washington Times reported that US intelligence has discovered that North Korean government agents had approached several Chinese companies to acquire TBP, but subsequent reports on 17 and 20 December started that North Korea had actually received 20 tons of TBT.
Late 1990s	Democratic Republic of Congo	Uranium ore	Suspected
1988-89	Europe	Gas centrifuge technology	Suspected
Mid-1960s	France	Nuclear equipment	Reported by defector Ko Yŏng Hwan in 1991.
1976	France	Two IRIS-50 computers
1989	IAEA	Assistance in locating uranium deposits
1990s	Iran	Unspecified nuclear assistance	Suspected
1988-89	Japan	Gas centrifuge technology	Suspected
Mid 1999	Japan	Two frequency converters (uranium enrichment technology)	Delivery is unconfirmed.
1994	Kazakhstan; unspecified central Asian countries	Uranium-235, plutonium-239, osmium-187, cesium-137, strontium, and 70-80 documents on nuclear technologies	Suspected
2001	Kazakhstan	32kg of highly enriched uranium	Suspected
1990s-2002	Pakistan	Uranium enrichment technology	Suspected
Late 1990s	Pakistan	Gas centrifuges	Suspected
July 2002	Pakistan	Nuclear technology	Suspected
December 1992-March 1993	Unknown	Nuclear equipment
1980s	West Germany via Pakistan	Uranium enrichment technology	Suspected
1980s	West Germany via India or Pakistan	Two electron beam furnaces and two “laboratory furnaces”	Suspected
1986-87	West Germany	US-origin zirconium	Suspected
1987	West Germany via East Germany	Small annealing furnace	Suspected
1989	West Germany	Technical assistance	One or two German technicians are reportedly in North Korea in 1989.
1990	West Germany	Technical assistance	An “official” from the German firm Leybold is reportedly in North Korea in 1990.
Mid-August 1994	German citizen	Up to 2.5mg of plutonium	Prevented; it is unclear whether North Korea is the intended importer or exporter of the plutonium

Complete citations and further details are available in the missile chronology within this country profile. This table includes all types of reported transactions: complete weapon systems, components and special materials, production technologies and information, training and human resources, etc.


	Updated June 2003

Key Sources:
Agence France Presse; Chelyabinski Rabochij; Christian Science Monitor; Deutsche Presse-Agentur; Chugan Chosun; Donga Ilbo; Hankook Ilbo; Hoguk; Jane’s Defense Weekly; Jane’s Intelligence Review; Jerusalem Post; Joongang Ilbo; KBS Radio; KBS Television; Korea Herald; Korean Central News Agency; Kukmin Ilbo; Kyodo News Service; Kyunghyang Shinmun; Mainichi Daily News; Moscow TV 6; New York Times; Michael J. Mazarr, North Korea and the Bomb; James Clay Motlz and Alexandre Y. Mansourov, editors, The North Korean Nuclear Program: Security, Strategy, and New Perspectives from Russia; Nuclear Engineering International; Nuclear Fuel; Nucleonics Week; Outlook India.com; Chang Chun Ik, Pukhan Haek-Missile Chŏnjaeng; Lee Chae Sŭng, Pukhan’ŭl Umjig’i’nŭn Technocrat; Segye Ilbo; Shindonga; South China Morning Post; Sunday Times; Times (London); TCNC Newsletter; United Press International; Wall Street Journal; Washington Post; Washington Times; Yomiuri Shimbun; Yonhap News Agency.

	Import Table by Date
	Import Tables by Country
		USSR / Russia
		Other Countries

	Export Table by Date

	North Korea Maps
	Korean Transliteration
	The Second NPT PrepCom for the 2005 Review Conference
	North Korea's 11th Supreme People's Assembly Elections
	Vinalon, the DPRK, and Chemical Weapons Precursors
	Theater Missile Defense (TMD) and Northeast Asian Security
	Related Links and Publications
	Treaties and Organizations
	Korean Transliteration, Geographic Units, and Proper Names
	CRS Report for Congress: North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons: How Soon an Arsenal?
	CRS Report for Congress: North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program (2006)
	NBR: North Korea's Nuclear Weapons (2006)
	FAS: Nuclear Weapons Program (2006)
	The North Korean Plutonium Stock Mid-2006
	The Impact of North Korea’s Nuclear Test on Iran Crisis

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About This Section	CNS Experts

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by MIIS.

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