SEOUL, June 20: Missing Pakistani nuclear scientists may be staying in North Korea to help develop its nuclear weapons programme, reports said on Sunday.

Yonhap news agency, citing a report from the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) in Seoul, said North Korea might have achieved a higher level of technology for enriched uranium with the help of foreign scientists.

"Nine Pakistani nuclear scientists have been missing since they left their country six years ago and we cannot rule out the possibility that some of them are in North Korea," KINU researcher Jeon Sung-Hun was quoted as saying.

North Korea's highly enriched uranium programme was at an early stage in its development, he said. "However, we should be prepared to find that North Korea has received a level of technology and cooperation from Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus which surpasses general expectations," he added. -AFP