Seoul, Nov 06: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, speaking ahead of a summit with South Korean leader Roh Moo-Hyun today, denounced as a smear campaign charges that Islamabad helped North Korea's nuclear weapons drive. Pakistan, which maintains cordial ties with the North Korean leadership, has been repeatedly accused of aiding Pyongyang's atomic ambitions in return for help with Islamabad's own missile development.
"I would like to assure you that all report linking Pakistan to North Korea's nuclear programme are totally incorrect and malicious in nature," said Musharraf in an interview with the Korea herald newspaper.
"Pakistan is opposed to nuclear proliferation and is committed to universal and complete nuclear disarmament," he was quoted as saying.
North Korea says it has developed nuclear bombs and is making more to cope with what it calls a "hostile" US policy.
Musharraf, who arrived yesterday for a three-day state visit, said he fully supported multilateral negotiations to resolve the crisis as hopes were renewed for a new round of six-way talks bringing together the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the united states before years-end.

At a first round in Beijing in august the Stalinist state threatened to declare itself a nuclear power and conduct a nuclear test, according to US officials.
According to us media reports, Pakistan supplied North Korea with designs for gas centrifuges needed for the production of weapons-grade uranium. The North Koreans deny running a uranium-enrichment programme but say they have built bombs from a plutonium-based programme.
Bureau Report