Posted on 09/11/2004 9:22:24 PM PDT by Flavius
SEOUL (AFP) - A huge explosion rocked North Korea (news - web sites)'s northern inland province of Ryanggang last week, triggering a mushroom cloud at least two miles in radius, South Korea (news - web sites)'s Yonhap news agency said.
Photo AFP/KCNA/file Photo
The explosion appeared to be stronger than an April 22 blast that killed more than 150 people and wounded some 1,300 others in Ryongchon near the western tip of North Korea's border with China, it said Sunday.
The latest blast took place in Kimhyungjik county near the Chinese border on September 9, when North Korea marked the 56th anniversary of its founding, Yonhap said, citing unnamed sources in Beijing.
"The United States was known to have shown its keen interest in the explosion after spotting its traces by satellite," the source was quoted as saying.
South Korea's unification minister Chung Dong-Young said Seoul had received an unsubstantiated report on the explosion in North Korea.
"We have received an unsubstantiated report on traces of an explosion in North Korea," he told reporters after a meeting of security-related officials. The unnamed source in Beijing said the blast had prompted speculation in Washington that the explosion was possibly related to a nuclear experiment, it said.
Chung, however, played down the possibility of a North Korea's nuclear weapons test.
He said the South Korean government was not aware of the scale of the blast but Yonhap quoted a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying the blast triggered a mushroom cloud with a radius of 3.5 to four kilometers (2.4 miles).
"The explosion occurred at around 11 am. But it is not clear yet whether the explosion is related to an intentional nuclear experiment or a simple accident," he was quoted as saying.
He noted the site of the explosion was not far from the North's missile base, according to Yonhap.
The New York Times reported on its Web site Saturday that US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and his top advisers have received intelligence reports describing a confusing series of actions by North Korea that some experts believe could indicate the country is preparing to conduct its first nuclear weapons test.
Citing unnamed senior officials with access to intelligence, the newspaper said US intelligence agencies appeared divided over the significance of the new North Korean actions.
The suspicious activities included the movement of materials around several suspected test sites, including one near a location where intelligence agencies reported last year that conventional explosives were being tested that could compress a plutonium core and set off a nuclear explosion, The Times said.
But officials have not seen the classic indicators of preparations at a test site, in which cables are laid to measure an explosion in a deep test pit, according to the report.
US officials said if North Korea proceeded with a test, it would probably be with a plutonium bomb, perhaps one fabricated from the 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods that the North has boasted in the past few months have been reprocessed into bomb fuel, the report pointed out.
However, some analysts in agencies that were the most cautious about Iraq (news - web sites)'s alleged weapons of mass destruction have cautioned that they do not believe the activity detected in North Korea in the past three weeks is necessarily the harbinger of a test, The Times reported.
Some analysts fear that a successful nuclear weapon test by North Korea could change the balance of power in Asia, perhaps leading to a new nuclear arms race there, the paper said.
I've reported it before I reported it ...
Just can't get the notion out of the back of my mind that maybe our Special Forces have something to do with North Korea's recent spate of "accidents." Certainly hope so, anyway.
I thought it was common knowledge that NK had some nukes.
Does anyone think they don't ?
Am I the one that is confused about this ?
Yeah, I saw your deleted article (per your request) after I read the news on Yahoo. I was wondering "what the heck" and then this one pops up.
You're quick Flavius.
Now, does anyone (with their tinfoil hat on) think that these were both "accidents" or could "someone" have assisted in their detonation. Hmmmm.
happydogx2
Any sign of increased radiation in the vicinity?
I can understand the govt's silent reaction to such an event. But a blast this size would be captured on seismic instruments allover the world. Most of those are not controlled by any govt. Why would they keep an atomic test by NK quiet.?
Special forces like in high-altitude bomb drop from a B1 or B2 on a site being prepared by NK to test a weapon???
I know it crazy aint it? There weas another thread on someone posting an translation...
Thats when I started looking for it saw the first one the wrong one... so i posted that...
Now this one started to pop up on news media outlets...
Its a crazy world we live in thats a fact...
There's no point to a zillion postings of the original Yonhap article as regurgitated by every single media outlet on the globe.
Dan Rather has received a memo from a reliable source indicating Mars has launched an attack-- as directed by Karl Rove. Signed "Carl Rowve." Look for this blockbuster on 60 Minutes Sunday night.
Probably confused - this one WENT OFF! FOX reports in a SO SO manner. Kim Spy also reports and states, in part...
09/12 Reports May Indicate N.Korea Nuclear Test
... One senior intelligence official noted that preparations the North knew could be detected by the United States might be a scare ... North Korea, while other(s) ... speculated a test could be intended to influence the U.S. presidential election in November...(John SKarry <sarc?)
T.R.O.L.L
EarthQuake Data 9.9.04
http://www.myforecast.com/bin/earthquake.m?city=73327&metric=true
humongous kimchi fart
Aww c'mon, I have to go to bed soon. I'll either be up laughing or smelling that sh!t!
US intelligence will be the first to know when NK fires off an atomic or nuclear weapon. We had lots of practice during the Cold War. You can't pop off one of these weapons and hide it from the US.
Ref: http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20040912/301100000020040912131751E3.html
excerpt> Alleged Nuclear Test Site Said to House Missile Launch Facilities </excerpt
Y'mean they have a Vanguard project too!
Other news article shows:
Excerpt> Nature of Blast in N. Korea Unclear: U.S. Diplomatic Sources
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- A diplomatic source here said a huge explosion reported to have occurred in North Korea appears not to be a nuclear weapons test, but said it remains unclear whether it was a natural disaster or an accident.</excerpt
Probably Bullshit.
This will encourage Iran to get very busy. We'll have to take care of business over there sooner rather than later.
Nuclear sniffer planes, aloft!
HEY! Wait a minute!
I'm at 37N, 122W! DAMN! Nobody tells me nuttin'!
...OR...Oops!
Nice photo.
I was wondering what size blast this would represent, or whether that size was big/small for a nuclear explosion, so I went Googling and found this, concerning first observations of the Hiroshima nuking:
A U.S. Forces observing plane reported that five minutes after the bombing a massive gray cloud about 5 kilometers in diameter was hanging over the center of the city. The mushroom cloud rapidly grew into a gigantic pillar of rolling white smoke, and soon it reached an altitude of about 17,000 meters, spreading out wide at its top.The Hiroshima bomb had a yield of about 13-15 kilotons. So depending on whether the word "radius" in the NK report is accurate, or an error (reporting the diameter would have made more sense), the NK bomb would be on the order of around 9-10 kilotons, or 20-25 kilotons -- both figures well within the expected range of a "first attempt" plutonium nuclear weapon.
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