Posted on 09/12/2004 7:48:16 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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It was reported that there was a massive explosion Thursday around the town of Yongjo-ri, Kim Hyong-jik County, Ryanggang Province. U.S. Department of State, sources familiar with North Korea and the Korean government all confirmed the explosion.
A high-ranking government official said Sunday, “It is true that a large mushroom cloud about 3.5 to 4 km in diameter was observed by a satellite at around 11:00 a.m. Thursday. It was not a nuclear test, but the explosion seemed to be three times bigger than the one that took place during the Ryongchon Station accident,” and added, “Both U.S. and Korean intelligence authorities are investigating what caused the explosion.”
Chong Wa Dae Spokesman Kim Jong-min said, “We noticed the explosion right after it took place and reported it to the president in writing during a National Security Council meeting. But we cannot decide the nature of the accident yet.”
The accident took place in a mountainous region 1,500 meter above sea level around Yongjo-ri, where it is known that there were many munitions factories nearby. In particular, the exact spot of explosion is only 10km away southwest from the Yongjo-ri base for Rodong 1 and 2 missiles and some 30km away from the Sino-Korean border.
There is much talk about the cause of the explosion. The government official said, “If a nuclear test causes an explosion, we can detect it by reading satellite data. Thus, the recent explosion in North Korea was not caused by a nuclear test.” The intelligence authorities assume that an ammunition depot with over 1,000 tons of dynamite or an ammunition car may have exploded, or there may have been a chain explosion of chemical material or a big fire. Some Chinese sources argue that a massive explosion took pace in a munitions factory. Hong Sun-jik, director at the Hyundai Economic Institute said, “Other than the assumption that it may be a simple accident that took place due to old facilities, we cannot exclude the possibility that the explosion may have taken place due to the lack of control of the Kim Jong-il regime, or it may have been connected to a secret feud over the successor of Kim Jong-il following the rumor of death of Kim’s wife, Koh Young-hee.”
Also, some strongly argue that it is not a simple accident because it took place on Sept.9, the North’s foundation day, which is considered a very important national holiday. Others argue that with Korea’s nuclear experiments in the past at issue in the international community, it could be a false explosion by North Korea to intensify the Korea’s nuclear issue. In other words, the North intentionally caused the explosion to deliver a message to the international community.
The government official said, “We will be able to know the exact cause only after North Korea makes an official statement or intelligence authorities announces the results of their analysis.”
(Choi Byung-mook, bmchoi@chosun.com )
It was all a forest fire according to CNN, can't we just move on?
The world would be a lot happier and safer if it woke up one day to the news that Stealth bombers just nuked the capitals of North Korea and Iran, along with all their nuclear facilities.
Sure, sure, there would be the expected outcries and condemnations, but in the long run, everybody would be happier.
“We will be able to know the exact cause only after North Korea makes an official statement or intelligence authorities announces the results of their analysis.”
I'll choose option "B."
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| The picture of the area around Young-jo-ri, Kim Hyong-jik County, Yanggang Province, N. Korea, taken by a satellite of Digital Globe Co.(American corporation) in Feb., 2003. The circle marks Young-jo-ri. The rectangle marks the probable blast site, 10km to the South-west of Young-jo-ri. A nearly vertical gray line is a railroad passing Young-jo-ri. The yellow line marks the boundary between Yanggang Province(right side of the line) and Jagang Province(the left side.) |
Ping!
Anything special about this site? Railway terminal? Bridge? Laboratory?
anybody have pictures?
Missile factory, some say.
A lot of military installations, according to what I heard. Underground missile bases, munition factories, military research labs, etc. They lost a lot of valuable assets, for sure.
Mmm, why all the mystery. Nuclear explosions, above and below ground, have distinct seimic characteristics. This was the main reason, not earthquakes, that seismic stations where set up all over the place, to verify copmliance with non-testing treaties.
were there any syrians scheduled to pick anything up????
Very interesting.Another railroad explosion?
Keep checking www.globalsecurity.org
They have access to a private spy sat and usually have great shots of events. They had good ones of the last big boom in N. Korea.
BTW, just what was the general consensus here on FR, about the real cause of the Ryongchon explosion?
Foul play.
No, this article says the cloud was 3 km, not the blast radius.
Yes, but wanted to know who, why.
As I stated on another thread, I don't believe this is an accident either. Thanks.
Response: Uh Oh!
Comment: Given that the initial reaction of anyone in government is to immediately lie, this explosion report is rather disconcerting. Oh well N.K. has the bomb. Let us move on!
John Loftus on Fox now saying it could be a fuel air gas bomb dropped from a parachute
My best guess at this point is that we just dropped a MOAB on a NK missile plant.
From www.globalsecurity.org...
Interesting analysis of the problems the North face in doing ANY nuke testing....
According to an analysis by Satoshi Morimoto of Takushoku University, " ... carrying out nuclear tests inside North Korea would be an extremely sticky action. That is because this kind of nuclear testing could only be carried out underground. There is absolutely no way they could do in the air or above ground. Even with underground nuclear testing, you normally need a fifty to sixty kilometer square of desert for a nuclear test. In the U.S., this would be something like the Nevada desert. Unless you have the kind they have in India or Pakistan, you cannot do it. The reason for this is that the underground water system gets damaged. North Korea has a very abundant flow of underground water, and if you carry out an underground nuclear test in this kind of place, radioactive materials would get into the water supply for the whole of the Korean peninsula, and also flow out into the Sea of Japan. As a consequence, if there were any underground nuclear testing in the Korean peninsula, it would not be just the ecological system, but also the topography of the land that would be damaged. So, will they indeed carry out tests? I think they might somehow manage to borrow the Pakistani desert, or else carry out tests in another country. Still, this being North Korea, one can never know. If they did do that sort of nuclear test, then the U.S. would run out of patience."
The PRC letting NK know how they feel about Nuke testing on their border?
Last night it was pointed out the prior to the Trinity test in New Mexico in 1945, a 100-ton TNT blast was staged.
Good point. Should we be thinking six times bigger?
I'm wondering if NK is testing a mine-clearing bomb like a MOAB. Their intention would be to clear the mines along the DMZ at some point in the future as part of an invasion of South Korea.
3km radius is from another article in Chosun Ilbo, which is in Korean. It appears that the blast radius is far wider than Ryongchon's. It is true that Ryongchon's blast radius was 1km.
Umm, no. Actually three or four seismic stations setup across the US can pinpoint the location of a very large explosion or earthquake anywhere in the world.
The seismic waves travel throught the earth and are reveived at each station at different times. Since we can reasonable estimate travel times, each station can estimate a range of locations that the event occurred. The intersection of these location is the event spot.
Thus we could verify the USSR's compliance with non testing treaties from the US.
Remember the muntions ship that exploded in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia during world War I? Or the Port Chicago, CA port explosion in 1944? Or the explosion of the ammonium nitrate fertilizer loaded on the cargo ship Grand Comp at Texas City, TX in 1947? Or what nearly happened at the Southern Pacific yards in Roseville, CA in 1973?
According to what I've read, the explosion in Halifax harbor had the force of a tactical nuclear warhead (about the equivalent of 2,000 tons of TNT); it came very close to wiping out the entire town.
Ant surprise they have missle labs and bases so close to our REAL ENEMY
I heard that a large quantity of volatile chemical could set off such a big mushroom cloud.
Maybe it was an 'ooops' moment during a test firing from of one of our subs................
Or somebody is trying to shut down Kim Jong-il's October Surprise.
They have not made any public announcement of "successful nuke test" over their airwaves.
Thought, I believe it fits in a B2, maybe a warning shot across the bow ? Who knows.
Another industrial accident in N Korea.
We need to send John Edweirds and a 1,000 of his fellow snakes, er trial lawyers to sue the hell out of the N Korean leaders.
Was the Texas city explosion the one that nearly wiped the town off the map and damaged some houses in Galveston?
They're assuming it was an accident. We did a conventional explosive test (100 tons of TNT, 0.1 kiloton) just before the first nuclear test (Trinity). Maybe the same thing is going on here.
Thank you for pinging me.
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