*Breaking News* N. Korea Claims Successful Nuclear Test

[CyclonePackFan]

From http://www.cnn.com

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea on Monday claimed it has performed a successful nuclear test, according to that country's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

South Korean government officials also said North Korea performed its first nuclear test, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.

The apparent nuclear test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (0136 GMT) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, Yonhap reported, citing defense officials.

"The field of scientific research in the DPRK (North Korea's official name) successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on October 9 ... at a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation," KCNA reported.

Late Sunday in Washington, the U.S. military told CNN it believed the report to be true, but was working to fully confirm it.

Senior U.S. officials said they also believed the test took place.

"The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent. It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability," KCNA reported.

"It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it."

The U.S. Geological Survey's Rafael Abreau said the earthquake-measuring agency has not recorded any seismic activity from North Korea.

However, South Korean intelligence officials said a seismic wave of magnitude-3.58 had been detected in North Hamkyung province, according to Yonhap.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday information still needed to analyzed to determine whether North Korea truly conducted a nuclear test, The Associated Press reports.

High-level South Korean officials were meeting Monday after intelligence of the suspected test was received.

"President Roh Moo-hyun called in an emergency meeting of related ministers on Monday to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue," said Yonhap, quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho.

"The meeting comes as there has been a grave change in the situation involving the North's nuclear activity."

According to KCNA, there was no radioactive leakage from the site.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council warned North Korea against performing a nuclear test, citing unspecified action if it should do so.

It also called on North Korea to return immediately to the six-party talks with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

Citing American belligerence and pressure, North Korea said Tuesday that a nuclear test was in the works. A date and time for the test was not given.

The report of the test came as Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Seoul for meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun to address the nuclear issue as well as address strains in relations between the two countries over territorial and historical disputes.

North Korea accused rival South Korea on Monday of committing a serious provocation by firing warning shots during a weekend incident in which the South says soldiers from the communist North crossed over their border.

The border shooting came Saturday. South Korean soldiers rattled off about 40 warning shots after a group of five North Korean troops crossed into the southern side of the no-man's-land separating the divided Korean peninsula, South Korea said.

No one was hurt in the incident.

On Monday, members of the U.N. Security Council are expected to select South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the world body.

In a straw poll last Monday, all but one of the 15 council members supported that choice, according to Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya.

John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, refused to discuss the outcome of the vote, but said: "I think it was sufficiently clear that all members of the council agreed to move to a formal vote on Monday night," he said. The announcement would be made Tuesday, he said.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre, Barbara Starr, Sohn Jie-ae and Elise Labott contributed to this report

[Brando19]

Uh oh

[Partial]

Uh oh

quoted for truth

[Freak Out]

"The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent."

Come on Kim....give the Pakistani who helped you so much some credit here.

[Tarlam!]

If it's good enough for Britain, India, Israel, Pakistan, France, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and USA, I guess it's good enough for North Korea.

Iran is next, then who?

Until the entire world is prepared to dismantle nuclear weapons, why, exactly, should countries forfeit their right to strive for military equaility? I know I will win no friends with this opinion, but this is one of the sparsely populated areas where I would deem American politicians to be hypocritical in their foreign policy.

America has offered to protect Iran if they were to stop their nuclear weapons program. Iran has said "Are you serious?"

I don't want to offend anybody. But that stance is simply too late in coming.

As far as States accepted by the U.N. are concerned, at least one can expect negotiation before the next Bomb gets dropped over a populated area.

My biggest concern for my children and theirs are the "dirty bombs" out there.

I know this is a controversial post. I am anything but a liberal. But, it is a historical fact that only Americans have used Nukes in war and that fact disqualifies America from being the world's conscience in the debate.

[red]

good job george

[Kiwon]

If it's good enough for Britain, India, Israel, Pakistan, France, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and USA, I guess it's good enough for North Korea.

I know this is a controversial post. I am anything but a liberal. But, it is a historical fact that only Americans have used Nukes in war and that fact disqualifies America from being the world's conscience in the debate.

Tarlam!, I respect your opinion. That said, I have to respectfully disagree.

The moral equivalency argument simply doesn't fly. Yes, America did use nuclear weapons in warfare back in 1945. But what statement does it make that it has had this technology and not used it for 60 years? The US has every right "to be the world's conscience" because while it could have used nuclear weapons to dominate others instead it used its power to liberate billions of people from tyranny and genocide.

What would Hitler have done with nuclear weapons if he had had the chance? What about imperialistic Japan that invaded China, Korea, and the Philippines? North Korea's economy is built off of the enslavement of about 15% of its population. They can build nuclear weapons and export missiles but can't provide farmers with tractors or rice planters. The work is done by hand.

Iran denies the Holocaust and produces maps without Israel on them. What would they do with a nuclear weapon (nicknamed "The Islamic Bomb")? Do you really want to find out? Have you forgotten the reaction to the Dutch cartoons?

I believe you when you say that you are not a liberal. You’re smarter than that. But there is a vocal minority in America that isn’t. They are self-loathing and take a “Blame America” approach for every evil in the world. What a clueless bunch they are! The freedoms that they enjoy in the US would get them shot elsewhere (Russian journalist killed this weekend, for example).

America has its freedoms due to its strength. Nuclear weapons are an unfortunate reality because it puts the ability to practically destroy the world into the hands of men. However, based upon the last 60 years, I rather have that power in American hands rather than Kim, Jong-il (whose people have to worship as a god) or Mahmud Ahmadinejad (who believes that the mythical 12th Imam will return after Armageddon and that Islam will dominate the world). I suspect that deep down you do as well.

That said, I close my post like I began it. I respect your opinion.

[woodbuck27]

Tarlam! and Kiwon with their posts:

Have set up a valuable debate/discussion that we may benefit from here at PACKERRATS.

How many topics, are more serious to discuss, in concern for OUR future generations welfare than... " the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons " ?

The careless man/woman declares, " but really... what can I do?"...

Don't these, and many other questions beg to be answered in terms of your stance on World Peace and Security now and in the immediate and long term future?

a) Is it arrogance on behalf of Great Nations like America, Great Britain, Russia, Pakistan, Israel etc. to have Nuclear capability and determine that right be restricted by/to a determined by already being capable, inner circle?

b) Do these Great Nations operate under the guise of "the U.N. Security Council", to determine which country's may or may not promote and adopt an internal policy of protecting itself from other Nuclear Powers with it's own Nuclear capability?

c) What exactly does the UN Security Counsil mean to you in terms of lasting world Peace and Security?

d) Which countries should and shouldn't have Nuclear Capability? Why do you feel so?


Weighing in with the tensions in "the Orient", between countries such as..
N. and S. Korea, N.Korea and Japan etc. and after reading the following:

** "The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent. It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability," KCNA reported.

and

**"North Korea accused rival South Korea on Monday of committing a serious provocation by firing warning shots during a weekend incident in which the South says soldiers from the communist North crossed over their border.

The border shooting came Saturday. South Korean soldiers rattled off about 40 warning shots after a group of five North Korean troops crossed into the southern side of the no-man's-land separating the divided Korean peninsula, South Korea said.

No one was hurt in the incident".

and

** "The report of the test came as Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Seoul for meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun to address the nuclear issue as well as address strains in relations between the two countries over territorial and historical disputes."

e) Upon reading this **. Did it bother you or were you indifferent to how it speaks to you?

There are so many questions we may ask and debate/discuss.

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

(nicknamed "The Islamic Bomb")?

Please know what your talking about before you start to type. When has Islamic nation ever used an atomic bomb? Therefore why would you label a whole faith with a bomb? Are you another 13 year old poster on this board?

And Tarlem, I agree 100% with you post (As usual). I think you and me think very similar when it comes to international affiars.

[Kiwon]

(nicknamed "The Islamic Bomb")?

Please know what your talking about before you start to type. When has Islamic nation ever used an atomic bomb? Therefore why would you label a whole faith with a bomb? Are you another 13 year old poster on this board?

And Tarlem, I agree 100% with you post (As usual). I think you and me think very similar when it comes to international affiars.

"Islamic Bomb" is a term miltants have used on their websites as they envision Iran having a nuclear weapon.

Does my writing sound like a 13 year old? Now, on the other hand, your bad grammar ("I think you and me think..) does sound rather childish.

[Joemailman]

What we are seeing here is the logical outcome from a failed foreign policy.In 2002, Bush referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "axis of evil." We then invaded Iraq, while refusing to engage in direct talks with the other two. Does it really surprise anyone that Iran and North Korea would accelerate their nuclear weapons programs after seeing what we did to Iraq? So we now have one country of the axis with nuclear weapons, one that is pursuing them, and one on the brink of civil war. Obviously, we wouild like to see a change in regime in North Korea, but how do you make that happen? China probably doesn't want it, because they don't want a communist regime on their doorstep going under, for a variety of reasons. As we have seen in Iraq, getting rid of a brutal regime does not automatically lead to peace and security. I wish I had a solution to offer, but the situation is so bad that it is hard to come up with good options. The North Korean government is so dysfunctional that it is hard to impose sanctions on the government without creating a huge humanitarian crisis in North Korea. Perhaps China can talk some sense into the North Koreans, but it is hard to be optimistic.

[Harlan Huckleby]

The countries of the world that get respect and power are those that have nuclear weapons. The five nations named as permament members of the security council when the UN was formed were the ones who had nuclear weapons.

Why shouldn't India and PAckistan have sought nuclear weapons?
Why wouldn't Iran want and get nuclear weapons?

I'm pessimistic that N.Korea can be persuaded to avoid nuclear weapons, it is too much in their interests to pursue them. At least it will take very generous carrots and serious (non-military) sticks to dissuade them.

[Fosco33]

I'm not impressed by N Korea. Some are calling for praise of their scientists - for what - mocking nearly archaic technology developed some 60 years ago by the US. That would be like praising someone for copying a DVD or making a lightbulb.

Our intelligence has indicated it was less than a kiloton weapon and couldn't be validated as nuclear. I.e., this could be a cloak and dagger technique by N Korea.

Their payload delivery tests have been less than stellar (long range missiles).

Sure, with time and money, they could develop a nuke and a working missile system. I have to believe that with all our intelligence devices, the US and world would stop them.

They've been able to do what lots of countries have done before - build and test a nuke. By most accounts, that's 6 weapons. The US alone has over 7,000 weapons with varying delivery systems and specialties.

North Korea is playing this game with all the right moves. They'll come to the diplomacy table and play the puppet UN while being able to provide other countries or groups of people with nuclear material. They want to be considered a serious country and use nukes to get a seat at the world power table.

I say the US keep an eye on NK but stick to Iraq and Afghanistan before messing with N Korea or Iran. If either of them prepare to strike, take them out. China, S Korea and Japan can deal immediately with N Korea with UN support.

You have to speak softly and carry a big stick - but also be prepared to hit someone with it if needed.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

If it's good enough for Britain, India, Israel, Pakistan, France, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and USA, I guess it's good enough for North Korea.

I know this is a controversial post. I am anything but a liberal. But, it is a historical fact that only Americans have used Nukes in war and that fact disqualifies America from being the world's conscience in the debate.

Tarlam!, I respect your opinion. That said, I have to respectfully disagree.

The moral equivalency argument simply doesn't fly. Yes, America did use nuclear weapons in warfare back in 1945. But what statement does it make that it has had this technology and not used it for 60 years? The US has every right "to be the world's conscience" because while it could have used nuclear weapons to dominate others instead it used its power to liberate billions of people from tyranny and genocide.

What would Hitler have done with nuclear weapons if he had had the chance? What about imperialistic Japan that invaded China, Korea, and the Philippines? North Korea's economy is built off of the enslavement of about 15% of its population. They can build nuclear weapons and export missiles but can't provide farmers with tractors or rice planters. The work is done by hand.

Iran denies the Holocaust and produces maps without Israel on them. What would they do with a nuclear weapon (nicknamed "The Islamic Bomb")? Do you really want to find out? Have you forgotten the reaction to the Dutch cartoons?

I believe you when you say that you are not a liberal. You’re smarter than that. But there is a vocal minority in America that isn’t. They are self-loathing and take a “Blame America” approach for every evil in the world. What a clueless bunch they are! The freedoms that they enjoy in the US would get them shot elsewhere (Russian journalist killed this weekend, for example).

America has its freedoms due to its strength. Nuclear weapons are an unfortunate reality because it puts the ability to practically destroy the world into the hands of men. However, based upon the last 60 years, I rather have that power in American hands rather than Kim, Jong-il (whose people have to worship as a god) or Mahmud Ahmadinejad (who believes that the mythical 12th Imam will return after Armageddon and that Islam will dominate the world). I suspect that deep down you do as well.

That said, I close my post like I began it. I respect your opinion.

Yeah. I totally agree. Not like in our Country where our president believes some dead guy arose from the dead and will return. Pretty sane belief. Or that the Rapture is coming. LOL

[Kiwon]

TB, I rather live in a country where most of my leaders follow Christianity rather than other religions, philosophies, or cults. Modern history proves this point again and again.

You're free to believe that "some dead guy" as you put it referring to Jesus, didn't exist or that he died and wasn't resurrected or that he will not return to make this world a better place. You have that freedom in America. You don't have that same freedom in many countries around the world.

I am not ashamed to say that I believe that Jesus lived, He died and was resurrected, and will come again one day. I believe that He was 100% man and 100% God in the flesh. He's my Savior and Lord and I am not ashamed to say so.

Ridicule all you want but America's Christian roots have helped the USA to be a source of good in this world. This truth is completely obvious.

[Tarlam!]

TB, I rather live in a country where most of my leaders follow Christianity rather than other religions, philosophies, or cults. Modern history proves this point again and again.

()I am not ashamed to say that I believe that Jesus lived, He died and was resurrected, and will come again one day.()

Woah, Kiwon. I can't deal with Christ AND Nukes on the same thread!

O.K. I can, but I am freaked. Maybe because the only thing seperating us as I type this is the Yellow Sea! I just hit my room in Shanghai. I LOVE Shanghai!

Now, to Christ. Y'know, having a bunch of friends of Muslim faith is something I value. That stated, I have no problem with my leaders being Moslim or Christian or Jewish, for that matter. They might be Hindi's, or Shoah's or Buddhists etc etc. That may be, because I am a non practicing Free Mason. Yes, contrary to what you may have heard, I am allowed to say "I'm a Mason" in public.

I have a problem with Religion running States. I resent the Ayatollah as much as I resent the USA Bible Belt boycotting products because they disapprove of advertising. I just think State and Church should always be seperated.

Now, to Nukes. I forgot to mention China in my post above. Dear Kiwon, nothing you wrote, made my argument weaker. With respect, you posted an emotional claim based on not using the bomb since you did, so, you guys get to police the world. That's not enough for me, I'm afraid.

As long as your wonderful (I mean it) country is in a position to wipe other states off of maps, all countries have a right to strive to stop you.

I know America isn't interested in nuclear warfare. But, what if that changed? What if you elected a guy that not only went to war, but, went to nuclear war?

[digitaldean]

What we are seeing here is the logical outcome from a failed foreign policy.In 2002, Bush referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "axis of evil." We then invaded Iraq, while refusing to engage in direct talks with the other two. Does it really surprise anyone that Iran and North Korea would accelerate their nuclear weapons programs after seeing what we did to Iraq? So we now have one country of the axis with nuclear weapons, one that is pursuing them, and one on the brink of civil war. Obviously, we wouild like to see a change in regime in North Korea, but how do you make that happen? China probably doesn't want it, because they don't want a communist regime on their doorstep going under, for a variety of reasons. As we have seen in Iraq, getting rid of a brutal regime does not automatically lead to peace and security. I wish I had a solution to offer, but the situation is so bad that it is hard to come up with good options. The North Korean government is so dysfunctional that it is hard to impose sanctions on the government without creating a huge humanitarian crisis in North Korea. Perhaps China can talk some sense into the North Koreans, but it is hard to be optimistic.

It's apparent that the "Chia Dictator" (as Dennis Miller calles Kim Jong-Il) has proven that he can't be trusted. He had a negotiated settlement during the Clinton adminstration. That got us real far didn't it? Somehow the "trust, but verify" clause must have been missing from this agreement.

The invasion of Iraq did NOT cause this problem. The problem is a freaky little guy who wears $5000 platform shoes who's willing to pi$$ off the country propping it up (China), just to show he can be part of the nuclear club.

Though I trust as far as I can throw my Dodge Dakota, the U.N. should get off it's collective arse and show some real teeth. Not the weak-kneed effort it has shown against Iran or like the dozen and a half resolutions thrown against Saddam that never worked (dare I say "oil for food program").

The world needs to unite against Iran and N. Korea the same way it was done in 1991 to get Iraq out of Kuwait. Considering Europe's hands off attitude, Russia's indifference and China's seemingly unwillingness to stop their satellite's nonsense, this seems unlikely.

China needs to exert it's influence over N. Korea. They have blocked the Sec. Council even discussing N. Korea for the past decade. Now that North Korea has figuratively mooned them, it's time they step up to the plate and do some of the heavy lifting here. Since China tacitly allowed N. Korea to get this far to the nuclear stage, the U.S. and the U.N. should be exerting pressure on them to help clean up the mess they could have stopped.

I am more than willing to go the extra mile to get something done diplomatically. Even if Lil Kim's nuclear test was a dud, military options aren't the way to go yet. With only 30-odd thousand US troops in the DMZ and ONLY a million or so DPRK troops within 50 miles of Seoul and the 38th parallel, military options would not work. Frankly, there is no really decent military alternative on this, so we don't have a real alternative for the moment. There is no easy solution to this problem.

And for those who think it's OK for North Korea to have nukes...I think you need to seriously re-examine that. North Korea has already sponsored the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to over throw the Phillipine gov't. and sold ballistic missile technology to Iran and Syria to help prop up its missle program.

The sad part is Kim Jong-Il is willing to starve and intimidate his people to keep himself in power.

[Tarlam!]

So, the point is, l'il Kim wears 5k shoes and shouldn't get the Bomb?

Come on. The U.N. has no leg on this.

As long as Israel has a Bomb, everybody else should have one, too. Don't you get it? Kill ALL bombs, then, you might expect rogue states to settle down. Otherwise, just keep pissing in the wind.

[digitaldean]

So, the point is, l'il Kim wears 5k shoes and shouldn't get the Bomb?

Come on. The U.N. has no leg on this.

As long as Israel has a Bomb, everybody else should have one, too. Don't you get it? Kill ALL bombs, then, you might expect rogue states to settle down. Otherwise, just keep pissing in the wind.

No, that isn't the point. It's because it's nut jobs like him that will sell a nuclear device to a terrorist group or detonate one in his own region.

Yes, I'd like to see no nukes anywhere in the world also. But until that utopian day happens, you have to keep N. Korea from having nukes. Just how, pray tell, do you expect to get rid of the nukes anyway?

Also, Iran does not need nukes either. Considering the mullahs have already stated they want Israel gone, nukes would be used on Israel the first chance they get.

Also until nukes are done away with you have to expect nations to live up to their agreements.

[woodbuck27]

Main Link **:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15190745/?GT1=8618

*** World aligns against N. Korea for nuclear test

See Link to launch **

*** World weighs North Korea sanctions

See Link ** to launch:


News Release Oct. 9,2006:

U.S. circulates draft resolution at U.N. calling for sanctions on Pyongyang

The United States on Monday proposed stringent U.N. sanctions against North Korea, including a trade ban on military and luxury items, the power to inspect all cargo entering or leaving the country, and freezing assets connected with its weapons programs. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Nightly News

*** The nuclear-armed planet - A look at arsenals around the globe

See Link ** to launch

Oct. 9: North Korea says it has successfully performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test. NBC's Mark Mullen reports.

Updated: 10:33 p.m. ET Oct 9, 2006

UNITED NATIONS -

The world's nations expressed opposition to North Korea on Monday for staging a nuclear test denounced even by key allies. President Bush called it “a threat to international peace and security,” and the U.N. Security Council weighed severe sanctions to punish the impoverished but reclusive communist nation.

Bush called the communist regime’s claim of a nuclear test a provocative act and warned Pyongyang against exporting nuclear materials.

“Once again, North Korea has defied the will of the international community, and the international community will respond,” Bush said.

Bush said North Korea already is one of the world’s leading proliferators of missile technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria.

“The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or nonstate entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States,” Bush said in a brief statement in the diplomatic reception room at the White House.

“And we would hold North Korea fully accountable for the consequences of such action.”

There was no talk of military action.

But the United States circulated a draft U.N. resolution late Monday that would condemn North Korea’s nuclear test and impose tough sanctions on Pyongyang for flagrantly disregarding the Security Council’s appeal not to detonate a device.

The draft, obtained by the Associated Press, incorporates proposals circulated by the U.S. earlier in the day, and adds new proposals from Japan that would ban all countries from allowing any North Korean ships in their ports or any North Korean aircraft from taking off or landing in their territory.

The new Japanese proposals would also impose travel restrictions on high-ranking North Korean officials.


Nine years and a day

The reported test came one day after the ninth anniversary of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s accession to power.

Members of the 15-nation Security Council were unanimous Monday in denouncing the claim amid worldwide concern that it could seriously destabilize the region, with even North Korean ally China saying it was strongly opposed to the move.

“No one defended it, no one even came close to defending it,” U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.

“I was very impressed by the unanimity of the council ... on the need for a strong and swift answer to what everyone agreed amounted to a threat to international peace and security.”

The Security Council had warned the impoverished and isolated nation just two days earlier not to go through with a test, and Bolton said Washington will seek U.N. sanctions to curb North Korea’s import and export of material for weapons of mass destruction, as well as its illicit financial activities.


Sanction specifics

Bolton and key U.S. allies, including Britain and France, sought a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter that would seek punishing measures, going beyond the limited sanctions in a measure adopted by the council in July after North Korea conducted seven missile tests.

Chapter 7 grants the council the authority to impose a range of measures including breaking diplomatic ties, imposing economic and military action.

North Korea’s U.N. ambassador Pak Gil Yon said the Security Council should congratulate his country instead of passing “useless” resolutions or statements.

AP Television News footage showed North Koreans going about their daily business and there were no signs of heightened alert by security forces in Pyongyang on Monday, hours after their government said it performed a nuclear weapons test.


Flowers for father

People also laid flowers by a statue of Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s father who died in 1994, ahead of Tuesday’s 61st anniversary of the North Korean Workers’ Party that he founded. Red flags of the party draped buildings and lampposts.

Iranian state radio, meanwhile, blamed North Korea’s reported nuclear test on U.S. pressure, saying the test

“was a reaction to America’s threats and humiliation.”

Iran has said it will not abandon uranium enrichment despite the threat of international sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, which Tehran insists is purely for peaceful purposes.

Bush said the United States was still attempting to confirm that a nuclear test had actually taken place.

Still, he said,

“such a claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security.”

A U.S. government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the situation, said the seismic event could have been a nuclear explosion, but its small size was making it difficult for authorities to pin down.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service chief Kim Seung-kyu reportedly told lawmakers signs of suspicious movement were spotted at another suspected test site.

The current members of the nuclear club are:

the United States, Russia, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and China.

Israel is widely believed to have the bomb but has not publicly declared so.


No doubts for Moscow

Reports about the size of the explosion were conflicting. Only Russia said the blast was a nuclear explosion but the reaction of world governments reflected little doubt that they were treating the announcement as fact.

“We have no doubts that it (the test) was nuclear,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.


*** Who is Kim Jong Il?

To launch see Main Link ** (Page 2).

North Korea expert Charles Armstrong of Columbia University discusses what's known about Kim Jong-Il.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Pyongyang’s ambassador to Russia, demanding that North Korea:

“immediately take steps to return to the regime of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty” and to the six-nation talks.

South Korea’s geological institute estimated the force of the explosion to be equivalent to 550 tons of TNT, far smaller than the two nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan in World War II.

The head of South Korea’s spy agency said the blast was equal to less than 1,000 tons of TNT, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported.

France’s atomic energy commission similarly estimated the blast measured at around 1 kiloton or less — equivalent to the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT.

Ivanov said it was far more powerful, equivalent to 5,000 to 15,000 tons of TNT.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it recorded a magnitude 4.2 seismic event in northeastern North Korea. Asian neighbors also said they registered a seismic event, and an official of South Korea’s monitoring center said the magnitude 3.6 tremor wasn’t a natural occurrence.

Japan dispatched three aircraft to waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula to monitor radiation levels, the Defense Agency said. Russia reported no increase in radiation levels in its Primorye territory, which borders North Korea.


How Big a Blast compared to bombs dropped in WWII in 1945 on the Japanese Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

See ** Main Link (page 2) for a graph.

Nuclear blasts give off clear seismic signatures that differentiate them from other explosions, said Friedrich Steinhaeusler, a professor of physics at Salzburg University. Even if the bomb the North Koreans detonated was small, sensors in South Korea would likely be close enough to categorize the explosion as nuclear, he said.

“I think we have to take them at their word. They’re not the type of regime to bluff,” said Peter Beck, Seoul-based analyst for International Crisis Group, a conflict-resolution think tank.


Shift of balance of power?

Although North Korea has long claimed it had the capability to produce a bomb, the test would be the first manifest proof that it had done so. A nuclear armed North Korea would dramatically alter the strategic balance of power in the Pacific region and would undermine already fraying global anti-proliferation efforts.

“The development and possession of nuclear weapons by North Korea will in a major way transform the security environment in North Asia and we will be entering a new, dangerous nuclear age,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a news conference in Seoul after a summit with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

Abe, facing his first major foreign policy test since his recent election, called for a “calm yet stern response.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso warned such a test would

“severely endanger not only Northeast Asia but also the world stability.”

South Korea said it had put its military on high alert, but it had noticed no unusual activity among North Korea’s troops.

China, the North’s closest ally and its main source of food, expressed its “resolute opposition” to the reported test and urged the North to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

It said the North “defied the universal opposition of international society and flagrantly conducted the nuclear test.”


Putin, Blair condemn action

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Cabinet that Moscow “certainly condemns the test conducted by North Korea.”

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the test was a “completely irresponsible act.”

The North has refused for a year to attend six-party international talks aimed at persuading it to disarm, calling for the U.S. to drop sanctions it has imposed to punish it for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

It pulled out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003 after U.S. officials accused it of a secret nuclear program, allegedly violating an earlier nuclear pact between Washington and Pyongyang.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the test was successful, with no leak of radiation.

North Korean scientists “successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions,” the government-controlled agency said, adding this was

“a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation.”

“It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the ... people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability,” KCNA said.

“It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it.”

South Korea said the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city on the northeast coast. South Korean intelligence officials said the seismic wave had been detected in North Hamkyung province, the agency said.


Crowded Security Council agenda

North Korea was added to the agenda of an already scheduled Security Council meeting that officially nominated South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary-general, and he said he would work to resolve the North Korean crisis.

The Security Council resolution adopted in July imposed limited sanctions on North Korea and demanded that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile program — a demand the North immediately rejected.

The resolution bans all U.N. member states from selling material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea — and it bans all countries from receiving missiles, banned weapons or technology from Pyongyang.


*** Roiling the region

Launch Video fr. page 3 of Main Link **.

Oct. 9: NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports on the likely diplomatic fallout from North Korea's underground nuclear test.

The North is believed to have enough radioactive material for about a half-dozen bombs. It insists its nuclear program is necessary to deter a U.S. invasion.

The North has active missile programs, but it isn’t believed to have an atomic bomb design small and light enough to be mounted on a long-range rocket that could strike targets as far as the U.S.

Speculation over a possible North Korean test arose earlier this year after U.S. and Japanese reports cited suspicious activity at a suspected underground test site.


Economic impact in region

South Korean stocks plunged Monday following North Korea’s announcement of the test. The South Korean won also fell sharply.

Markets in South Korea, the world’s 10th-largest economy, have long been considered vulnerable to potential geopolitical risks from the North.

The two countries, which fought the 1950-53 Korean War, are divided by the world’s most heavily armed border.

The conflict ended in a cease-fire that has yet to be replaced with peace treaty, are divided by the world’s most heavily armed border. However, they have made unprecedented strides toward reconciliation since their leaders met at their first-and-only summit in 2000.

Impoverished and isolated North Korea has relied on foreign aid to feed its 23 million people since its state-run farming system collapsed in the 1990s following decades of mismanagement and the loss of Soviet subsidies.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Comment woodbuck27:

None of this is good news PACKERRATS.

My take is that we can't any longer concentrate OUR opinions on what should or shouldn't be, but rather what must be done to deal with "the fact" that North Korea has assumingly joined the Nuclear Arms Family of Nations without permission and what that means to the World in real terms of "a threat ".

It's encouraging to me that today N.Korea's leading allay and supplier of the necessities of life (food) China, has joined the World's Nations in condemming this reported Nuclear test.

The question is what will N. Korea's reaction be in the future to severe sanctions, that will in effect cripple that Nation, if China plays hardball against it's allay?

The other question I have, is realistically, will China "in fact" hold up in regard to maintaining cooperation with the rest of the World's Powers in exercising sanctions against it's allay?

Severe and continuous sanctions are a proper course opposed to military intervention, that is both unacceptable and impossible considering the security of the people in the far East Nations ; but what stress will this place on N.Korea and it's citizens in terms of health? Looking at that. Are the sanctions realistic?

Will continuous and alligned Nations sanctions against N.Korea, piss that Nation off, as the impact of these sanctions brings N.Korea to it's knees?

Overall View.

This may be "in fact" be... a much to do about nothing in final analysis?

The World Powers "in fact" simply need to relax.

Relax "the hype". Be

My name is Ed.