Blast, Mushroom Cloud Reported in N. Korea

[Sundborg]

Those are probably lies...  It's going to be another "Russian" cover-up like what happened back in the 70's and 80's with the Biological weapons and R&D.

 

[Redeye]

"North Korea has said a large mushroom cloud seen over the nation in satellite images was the result of a deliberate demolition of a mountain for a power plant."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/09/13/nkorea.blast/index.html

I highly, highly doubt a controlled demolition would require the amount of explosives that would be needed to generate such an explosion.  Any sapper types have any idea?

 

[JasonH]

Skepticism over N. Korean blast
Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Posted: 0728 GMT (1528 HKT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. and South Korean officials are still trying to verify what triggered a massive mushroom cloud in North Korea amid skepticism over Pyongyang's explanation of the event.

After several days of speculation, North Korea said on Monday the 4-kilometer (2 miles) wide cloud spotted on satellite images by South Korea's Yonhap agency was the result of a deliberate demolition of a mountain for a power plant.

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun provided the explanation to British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell, who has just concluded a four-day visit to the reclusive nation.

Rammell said Tuesday he also formed the view that North Korea was committed to holding six-party talks aimed at resolving the crisis over its nuclear weapons program. But he said Pyongyang was not yet prepared to commit to a date. (Full story)

The cause of the smoke, which was spotted on the day North Korea marks its founding, is still a mystery to U.S. and South Korean intelligence, though the Communist state is watched closely using spy satellites and other means.

A Bush official said Monday the administration is not prepared to "speculate" about what happened in North Korea.

The administration is not saying it thinks the blast was part of a demolition project, as the British Foreign Office does. One American official said: "That could be true, but we don't know. We can't rule it out."

The U.S. does not think it was a nuclear event, but an administration official cautioned: "We still don't know what it was, and we're not speculating."

U.S. officials say they are still reviewing satellite imagery and other intelligence on the matter.

Some outside analysts have speculated the explosion could have been at the Yongjo-ri Missile Base, a facility believed to house up to 36 NoDong missiles. U.S. officials say there is no evidence that is true, though it cannot be completely ruled out.

According to data gathered by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Yongjo-ri is a suspected site for North Korea's uranium enrichment program.

South Korea skeptical too
On Tuesday South Korea's defense minister said the country was seeking independent verification on the nature of the blast.

Yoon Kwang-woong said the South would use intelligence channels and satellite images to check on the source of the blast in a northern region of the North.

"The weather is clear, so we should be able to take satellite images today and tomorrow and analyze them," Yoon told pool reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

"We should be able to confirm the site of the explosion."

Hydroelectric experts in Seoul have questioned the North's explanation, saying the relatively small Huchang river in the area made it an unlikely and unfeasible site for a major hydro power plant, according to Reuters reports.

The nation's media have also raised questions, with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoting a North Korean defector familiar with the region who said the body of water in the area was not sufficient for a large power plant.

Britain's Foreign Office has said North Korea is allowing international diplomats to inspect the site.

North Korea's vice foreign minister for Europe, Kung Sok Ung, said Britain's ambassador to Pyongyang, David Slinn, could go to the site as soon as Tuesday.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency said late Monday that reports of a large accidental explosion at the site or a nuclear test was a "preposterous smear campaign."

"Probably, plot-breeders might tell such a sheer lie, taken aback by blastings at construction sites of hydropower stations in the north of Korea," KCNA said.

CNN Radio, CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor and Correspondent Sohn Jie-Ae contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/a...last/index.html

 

[JasonH]

You nailed it on the head Red Eye

 

[sdimock]

Speculation

The former Yongjo-ri Missile Base, (currently a hole in the ground).

The accidental ignition of a NoDong missile set of its fuel and adjoining missiles, the following chain reaction created a mushroom cloud and a crater the envy of sappers around the world.

At least it wasn't nuclear. :skull:

Maybe their safety procedures need a little work.

 

[I_am_John_Galt]

Maybe their safety procedures need a little work.

Yeah, I *somehow suspect* this isn't very high on "Dear Leader's" > list of priorities ...

 

[JasonH]

Speculation

The former Yongjo-ri Missile Base, (currently a hole in the ground).

The accidental ignition of a NoDong missile set of its fuel and adjoining missiles, the following chain reaction created a mushroom cloud and a crater the envy of sappers around the world.

At least it wasn't nuclear. :skull:

Maybe their safety procedures need a little work.

Please if you find out info or news post the article, won't be so fictional if you do that 

 

[sdimock]

Hi Jay,

Please reference Post  by Che on page one;

"Alright, so what we know is there are reports of a mushroom cloud 3-4 Km's high and a crater was visible by sattelite in the general area of where said blast was supposed to take place...d'no much about Nuclear weapons, but it sounds like one!?

Question; If it's not a nuclear blast, what is it?
I'm not a WMD expert, so please if anyone has any ideas, do tell."

and Redeyes on this page;

"Fortunately it was not a nuclear event (if it was the EMP and radiation flashover would have been detected almost immediately - most likely a conventional explosion, either deliberate or accidental - though we're not too likely to know, because the North Koreans tend to keep a lot to themselves, and KCNA isn't reporting anything on it yet."

If the scenario I put forward happened, North Korea would never admit it.

Also note the disclamer in bold at the beginning of my post.

Chimo

 

[winchable]

A quote from the KCNA news agency:

Probably, plot-breeders might tell such a sheer lie, taken aback by blastings at construction sites of hydropower stations in the north of Korea

I love how the North Koreans still cannot produce a flawless translation into English, it really is a sign of their isolation.
I've got official-unofficial tourist pamphlets from NK and they are good for a laugh if you're into languages.

 

[JasonH]

I think we all need to work on our bolding etc abilities   ;D

 

[JasonH]

A quote from the KCNA news agency:


I love how the North Koreans still cannot produce a flawless translation into English, it really is a sign of their isolation.
I've got official-unofficial tourist pamphlets from NK and they are good for a laugh if you're into languages.

I've seen those, good knee slapper when you need one to just whip out one of those.

But anyways if they keep messing around they can be the next chernobyl (Here's hopeing it's when Kim Jong ll visits  :threat:

 

[Redeye]

A quote from the KCNA news agency:


I love how the North Koreans still cannot produce a flawless translation into English, it really is a sign of their isolation.
I've got official-unofficial tourist pamphlets from NK and they are good for a laugh if you're into languages.

I have sort of a bizarre fascination with someday visiting North Korea, just to see with my own eyes how screwed up the country is.

 

[JasonH]

Funny how it's a big thing then the news forgets about this... bah.

 

[Kirkhill]

Following along in the same vein about media forgetting to follow up,

I came across this reference to the earlier railway blast in Korea -  some curious victims.  Had this been noted by other members of this forum previously?

http://www.instapundit.com/archives/015584.php

May 17, 2004
THIS IS INTERESTING, if true:


Syrian technicians accompanying unknown equipment were killed in the train explosion in North Korea on April 22, according to a report in a Japanese newspaper.

A military specialist on Korean affairs revealed that the Syrian technicians were killed in the explosion in Ryongchon in the northwestern part of the country, according to the Sankei Shimbun. The specialist said the Syrians were accompanying "large equipment" and that the damage from the explosion was greatest in the portion of the train they occupied.


Hmm.

UPDATE: Hmm, again:


TOKYO -- Japan's Kyodo News, citing numerous diplomatic sources in Vienna, reported Saturday that the force of April 22's train explosion at the North's Ryonchon Station was about that of an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, which would have required about 800 tons of TNT -- about eight times that officially announced by North Korea. . . .

The CTBTO feels that the cause of the explosion may differ from the North's explanation, and noted the explosion might have been caused by highly-explosive materials like military-use fuel going off. Officials at the CTBTO plan to look into the causes of the accident.

The CTBTO said the explosion at Ryongchon was observed using seismological observation stations in Korea, Japan, the United States and Russia. The stations were built to detect nuclear tests.

 

[JasonH]

North Korea 'planning more blasts'
Friday, September 17, 2004 Posted: 0321 GMT (1121 HKT)

(CNN) -- North Korea is planning to carry out two more explosions as part of a hydroelectric power plant project after a major blast last week sparked speculation a nuclear test had taken place, Kyodo news agency has reported.

A North Korean engineer told a group of diplomats who visited the site that they had been carrying out deliberate detonations for several weeks, the German ambassador to Pyongyang said in a telephone interview.

Diplomats from Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Poland, and Sweden made the one-day trip to Yanggang province on Thursday to verify North Korea's statement that the explosions were deliberate.

The mystery began when a 4-kilometer (2 miles) wide mushroom cloud was spotted near the Chinese border on satellite images by South Korea's Yonhap agency.

Two blasts took place on September 8 and 9, according to the engineer, but the pictures were not seen until three days later.

The explosions moved 150,000 cubic meters of earth and rock, according to Doris Hertrampf, the German ambassador.

"It was a huge construction site, and I saw large movements of earth going on,'' Hertrampf said.

But the Polish ambassador to Pyongyang, Wojciech Kaluza, said the group had reached no conclusion about North Korea's explanations.

European Union diplomats will meet on Friday to discuss the issue further, Kyodo reported Kaluza as saying.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Reuters on Tuesday North Korea's explanation squared with Washington's view.

Some outside analysts speculated the explosion could have been at the Yongjo-ri Missile Base, a facility believed to house up to 36 NoDong missiles.

U.S. officials say there is no evidence that is true, though it cannot be completely ruled out.

According to data gathered by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Yongjo-ri is a suspected site for North Korea's uranium enrichment program.

South Korea skeptical too
On Tuesday South Korea's defense minister said the country was seeking independent verification on the nature of the blast.

Yoon Kwang-woong said the South would use intelligence channels and satellite images to check on the source of the blast in a northern region of the North.

Hydroelectric experts in Seoul have questioned the North's explanation, saying the relatively small Huchang river in the area made it an unlikely and unfeasible site for a major hydro power plant, according to Reuters reports.

The nation's media have also raised questions, with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoting a North Korean defector familiar with the region who said the body of water in the area was not sufficient for a large power plant.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency said late Monday that reports of a large accidental explosion at the site or a nuclear test was a "preposterous smear campaign."

"Probably, plot-breeders might tell such a sheer lie, taken aback by blastings at construction sites of hydropower stations in the north of Korea," KCNA said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/09/16/nkorea.blast/index.html

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Smells like BS. to me also.
If a blast of this size was intentional thier fearless leader would be the first to crow about it.
I'm sure the spin doctors need a couple of days rest now.