North Korea Tests a Nuclear Weapon?

[Sayhey]

This is scary as hell. Now tell me why we invaded a country, stretching our military to its breaking point, that did not have nuclear weapons while ignoring the threat of the very real expansion of this capability to the hands of one of the world's worst leaders? Does Bush now compound this folly by a military strike?

Blast, Mushroom Cloud Reported in N. Korea

29 minutes ago

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer

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."

AP (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/ap/20040912/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_explosion)

Probably should have posted this in the previous thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=88529) but I thought the shocking nature of the story deserved its own title.

[zimv20]

yikes.

you know, i'm planning a vacation to seoul, hiroshima and kyoto in the end of october / beginning of november timeframe. i'll be visiting some prime NK nuclear targets just in time for US elections.

or maybe there'll be some US military activity going on before i can even get there. oy ve.

[skunk]

Join up, and you can go for free... :rolleyes:

[IJ Reilly]

Colin Powell says this wasn't a nuclear test, but nobody seems to know what it was. That, I find hard to believe. Uncertainly just doesn't cut it.

[zimv20]

Colin Powell says this wasn't a nuclear test, but nobody seems to know what it was.
is anyone else of the opinion that NK testing a nuke before the election would be somewhat disasterous for the bush campaign?

i'm not surprised that:
1) this hasn't received more media attention, and
2) the powell denies it's a nuke

...not saying it _was_, just saying there's motivation here...

[dotnina]

I found Powell's remarks peculiar. How is it that nobody knows what it is, but he's already dismissed that it was a nuclear weapon? Because of that, my gut reaction was that the US nuked them (though I don't think so anymore).

[Leo Hubbard]

is anyone else of the opinion that NK testing a nuke before the election would be somewhat disasterous for the bush campaign?

i'm not surprised that:
1) this hasn't received more media attention, and
2) the powell denies it's a nuke

...not saying it _was_, just saying there's motivation here...
Not considering that polls think Bush would make a better war time President than Kerry would.

Maybe its a MOAB?

[Hoef]

Maybe it is the same mystery that hit Siberia long time ago (I though early fifties)

[Durandal7]

Most reports I've seen seem to point towards an accident. It looks to me like one of North Korea's giant underground missile storage facilities detonated.

[Backtothemac]

Without saying too much. We can determine whether a detonation is of a nuclear type by things in space that are in orbit ;)

[takao]

hm lets wait a few days..if it was an atomic bomb testing it will be across all news sites tv channels.. untill now it's just a big explosion

[skunk]

my gut reaction was that the US nuked them
A nuke on China's border? That would be one simple step to Armageddon.

[pseudobrit]

I found Powell's remarks peculiar. How is it that nobody knows what it is, but he's already dismissed that it was a nuclear weapon? Because of that, my gut reaction was that the US nuked them (though I don't think so anymore).

FWIW, I'm pretty sure we've got reliable intel satellites that can detect a nuclear explosion anywhere on earth, and I'm sure it's done using a nuke's unique EMP/radiation signature.

We used to play the voyer when the Soviets would test their toys.

So it's not out of the realm of reason for us to immediately say "it wasn't a nuclear explosion that we could detect."

Now the question is, if not a nuke, what was it?

[zimv20]

i suspect it was either an accident or a test of some kind of non-nuke explosive. anyone here familiar w/ nuclear technology? how big must the conventional explosive to start a chain reaction be?

[pseudobrit]

i suspect it was either an accident or a test of some kind of non-nuke explosive. anyone here familiar w/ nuclear technology? how big must the conventional explosive to start a chain reaction be?

It needn't be very big at all if engineered well. As you may know, we developed artillery-fired nukes that weighed as little as 70 lbs.

Less technical designs would dictate roughly half a ton of plastique, I'd say. Ever see the Fat Man and Little Boy bomb casings on display in the Smithsonian? They're much smaller than you'd think.

[patrick0brien]

-All

Well, if it was a nuke, China, Russia, South Korea, Britain, the U.S., the USGS, the IAEA and a slew of others would have known it was nuclear the instant of detonation, there are more than enough terrestrial and orbital sensors designed specifically for this. Heck! These guys even measure and catalog hospitals for the radiation involved with X-Raying patients!

The conpiracy-theorist in me then says, if it was indeed nuclear, all of these parties would be colluding together, and I just don't see being able to keep that a secret - too many eyes.

What I find distressing, is that if North Korea was planning to 'detonate a mountain for a hydroelectric project', that they didn't inform everybody that it was coming so that everybody would sit here wondering - burning scientific and diplomatic time - as a result.

Damn short-sighted if you ask me.

[IJ Reilly]

Well the North Koreans are now saying they were demolitions in connection with the construction of a hydroelectric project. Everybody who believes that, please raise your hands...