In many ways, North Korea and Pakistan could not be more different. The former is a nominally socialist, atheistic state, the latter the world’s second-largest Islamic country. But despite their cultural and geopolitical differences, the two countries are bound by their shared possession of nuclear weapons and close ties to China.

The ultimate aim of the DPRK’s nuclear program is to ensure the U.S. does not attack, including if Pyongyang presses its claims over the South, and to eventually compel U.S. Forces Korea to leave the peninsula altogether. Pakistan too seeks to repel