SEOUL, South Korea - A large explosion occurred in the northern part of North Korea (news - web sites), sending a huge column of smoke into the air on an important anniversary of the communist regime, a South Korean news agency reported Sunday.
The South Korean government said it was trying to confirm the report of an explosion at 11 a.m. on Thursday in Yanggang province near the border with China.
The Yonhap news agency carried conflicting reports from unidentified sources, with one in Washington saying the incident could be related to a natural disaster such as a forest fire. It also cited a diplomatic source in Seoul as raising the possibility of an accident or a nuclear test.
Although North Korea is believed to be developing nuclear weapons, international experts would likely have been able to detect the test if one had occurred several days ago.
"We understand that a mushroom-shaped cloud about 3.5- to 4-kilometer (2.2 miles to 2.5 miles) in diameter was monitored during the explosion," the source in Seoul told Yonhap. Yonhap described the source as "reliable."
Thursday was the anniversary of North Korea's founding on Sept. 9, 1948. Leader Kim Jong Il uses the occasion to stage performances and other events to bolster loyalty among the impoverished North Korean population.
Experts have speculated that North Korea might use a major anniversary to conduct a nuclear-related test, but one analyst said an open test, as opposed to one below ground, would be hard in such a small country.
"It's difficult to say, but it won't be easy for North Korea to conduct a nuclear test without resulting in massive losses of its own people," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert in Seoul. "I think there is a more possibility that it is a simple accident, rather than a deliberate nuclear test."
Yonhap's diplomatic source in Seoul said the explosion took place "not far" from a military base that holds ballistic missiles. North Korea, which has a large missile arsenal and more than a million soldiers, is dotted with military installations.
The damage and crater left by the explosion in Kim Hyong Jik county was big enough to be noticed by a satellite, a source in Beijing told Yonhap.
After a National Security Council meeting, South Korea (news - web sites)'s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said the government was trying to confirm the report about the explosion. Asked about the possibility of a nuclear test, he said:
"I believe some foreign media made such reports. However, currently, we believe that it is not related to such reports."
On Saturday, North Korea said recent revelations that South Korea conducted secret nuclear experiments involving uranium and plutonium made the communist state more determined to pursue its own nuclear programs.
The South Korean experiments, conducted in 1982 and 2000, were likely to further complicate the already stalled six-nation talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear development. South Korea has said the experiments were purely for research and did not reflect a desire to develop weapons.
On April 22, train wagons at a railway station exploded in the North Korean town of Ryongchon, killing 160 people and injuring an estimated 1,300, according to some estimates. The blast was believed to have been sparked by a train laden with oil and chemicals that hit power lines.
The explosion on Thursday was bigger than the Ryongchon train explosion, which devastated a wide area, Yonhap said.
Via Pandagon who has Dr. Rice's words..."We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
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But mushroom clouds can form from any large explosion. It doesn't have to be nuclear. If it was a nuclear blast - I'm sure the resulting blast of radiation would have been picked up by orbiting satellites.
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
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posted
But NK is definitely trying to make WMDs, whether it be nuclear or MOAB.
Either way, why aren't we giving them the same treatment as Iraq?
Oil?
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
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Because Kim's nuttier than Saddam. Saddam was an selfish evil fuck, but definitely not crazy- Kim's likely to toast his own country just to fuck us if we invaded.
Japan's gotta be concerned though.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Because substantial sections of South Korea would get blown into very small pieces? Including Seoul. And US casualties would likely be far higher.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: But mushroom clouds can form from any large explosion. It doesn't have to be nuclear. If it was a nuclear blast - I'm sure the resulting blast of radiation would have been picked up by orbiting satellites.
I don't know modern weaponry very well, perhaps someone can tell me what conventional devise can produce "...mushroom-shaped cloud about 3.5- to 4-kilometer (2.2 miles to 2.5 miles) in diameter...."
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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And not to mention that the North Koreans would most likely not roll over the same way the Iraqi military did. If the actual "war" in Iraq was a cake-walk, North Korea would be a blood-bath, and Bush simply doesn't have the political capital, given the quagmire in Iraq and public sentiment on that conflict wavering, to invade North Korea. It could also be questioned whether or not the United States has the manpower in terms of troops and ships to commit to any action in east Asia.
quote:I don't know modern weaponry very well, perhaps someone can tell me what conventional devise can produce "...mushroom-shaped cloud about 3.5- to 4-kilometer (2.2 miles to 2.5 miles) in diameter...."
A very large one.
Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: But mushroom clouds can form from any large explosion. It doesn't have to be nuclear. If it was a nuclear blast - I'm sure the resulting blast of radiation would have been picked up by orbiting satellites.
I don't know modern weaponry very well, perhaps someone can tell me what conventional devise can produce "...mushroom-shaped cloud about 3.5- to 4-kilometer (2.2 miles to 2.5 miles) in diameter...."
The MOAB (a large conventional bomb) makes one (not sure what the cloud's diamater is though- it's a biiig mushroom though).
Ever think that the shape of the cloud on this unannounced detonation of a harmless lil' ol' mountain was intentional? After all, they want to test their nuclear capabilities and how better to gague the world's recation without actually violating the test-ban treaty?
Crafty.... or just fortunate for them.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Or they just had another accident at a munitions cache, and being asian they must traditionally lie until their noses extend around the planet, penetrating themselves from behind, because above all else one must save face in asia.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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