North Korea and weapons of mass destruction

Events North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, and it is widely believed to have a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons (deliverable by artillery). ... Image File history File links NKorea_nuke_illustration. ... North Korean missile tests: 1993 1998 2006 2006 nuclear test Weapons There have been a number of North Korean missile tests. ... A North Korean missile test occured on May 29 and 30 of 1993. ... A Taepodong-1 missile fired in 1998. ... Picture of Taepodong-1 missile test from 1998 Two rounds of North Korean missile tests were conducted on July 5, 2006 (Korean time). ... On Monday, October 9, 2006, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon for the first time according to news reports. ... Taepodong-1 Taepodong-2 See also The Taepodong-1 being launched Taepodong-1 is a three-stage intermediate-range ballistic missile developed in North Korea and currently in service there. ... The Taepodong-2 (TD-2, also spelled as Taepo-dong 2[1]), (Korean: 대포동-2) is a designation used to indicate a North Korean three-stage ballistic missile design that is the successor to the Taepodong-1. ... Ryanggang explosion Military of North Korea

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On September 9, 2004, there was an event suspected to be a large explosion in North Korea's second northernmost province of Ryanggang. The nature and cause of the suspected explosion is the subject of speculation. There are many political implications surrounding potential causes and the secrecy of the North Korean government about it. North Korea now has the fourth-largest military in the world. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_North_Korea. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ryanggang (Ryanggang-do) is a province in North Korea. ... Politics is the process by which decisions are made within groups. ...

The suspected explosion

The suspected explosion was located near the town of Yongjo-ri in the county of Kimhyŏngjik in Ryanggang. This is in a mountainous region, about 1.5 km above sea level. The explosion was about 30 km from the border with China. The area contains several military installations, including munitions factories and a secret underground military base suspected to contain a uranium enrichment plant. The Yongjori Missile Base was 10 km northeast of the explosion. Ryanggang (Ryanggang-do) is a province in North Korea. ... Munition is often defined as a synonyn for ammunition. ... A factory (previously manufactory) or manufacturing plant is a large industrial building where workers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic; corrodes to a spalling black oxide coat in air Atomic mass 238. ... Isotope separation is the process of concentrating specific isotopes of a chemical element by removing other isotopes, for example separating natural uranium into enriched uranium and depleted uranium. ...

Early reports said that seismic activity had been detected early on September 9, 2004, and this was correlated with a "strangely shaped cloud", suspected to be a mushroom cloud. Together these would indicate a large explosion. The date, September 9, 2004, the 56th anniversary of the formation of North Korea, was taken as significant; North Korea has a habit of making grand military gestures on significant dates. However, the original reports have been contradicted by later reports denying that there was any explosion. Seismology (from the Greek seismos = earthquake and logos = word) is the scientific study of earthquakes and the movement of waves through the Earth. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945 A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, flame, or debris resulting from a very large explosion. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An anniversary (from the Latin anniversarius, from the words for year and to turn, meaning (re)turning yearly; known in English since c1230) is a day that commemorates and/or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. ...

The cloud, 3.5 km to 4 km (2 miles to 2.5 miles) in diameter, was observed by a reconnaissance satellite at 11:00 on September 9, 2004. Something that was interpreted as a subsidence crater resulting from the explosion was also imaged by satellite. km redirects here. ... A mile is the name of a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Diameter is an AAA (authentication, authorization and accounting) protocol for applications such as network access or IP mobility. ... A spy satellite (officially referred to as a reconnaissance satellite or recon sat) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Post-shot subsidence crater and Huron King test chamber, which was less than 20 kilotons (1980) A subsidence crater is the crater left on the surface of an area which has had an underground (usually nuclear) explosion. ...

Reaction

The incident wasn't reported internationally until September 12, 2004, when the South Korean news agency Yonhap cited a source in Beijing, China, which said a mushroom cloud had been seen. Suspicion was raised by the fact that there was no mention of the explosion on internal North Korean media. North Korean news is little more than a mouthpiece for the ruling party, so unfavourable stories are commonly not broadcast at all; the Ryongchon disaster earlier in 2004 was reported only several days after the event. Portal:Currentevents September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: (Broadly bring benefit to humanity, ) [citation needed] Anthem: Aegukga Capital Seoul Largest city Seoul Official language(s) Korean Government Republic  - President Roh Moo-hyun  - Prime Minister Han Myung-sook Establishment    - Gojoseon October 3, 2333 BC (legendary)   - Declaration of Republic March 1, 1919 (de jure)   - Liberation August 15, 1945   - First... Yonhap news agency is the sole news agency in South Korea that supplies domestic and foreign news and information to newspaper and TV broadcast and other subscribers in South Korea. ... Beijing (Chinese: ; pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; ; IPA: ), a city in northern China (formerly spelled in English as Peking or Peiking), is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945 A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, flame, or debris resulting from a very large explosion. ... The Ryongchŏn disaster was a train disaster that occurred in the town of Ryongchŏn, North Korea near the border with China on April 22, 2004. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

There was immediate popular speculation that the explosion was nuclear in origin. United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was "no indication" that it was nuclear, and South Korea similarly said that it did not appear to be nuclear. However, a nuclear demonstration by North Korea might be judged likely to cause panic, so Western politicians and diplomats might see reason to suppress such news. Although, given the coverage given to the 2006 Nuclear Test, this seems unlikely. It would be some days before the effects of a nuclear explosion would be unequivocally visible to apolitical authorities. It would not be possible to hide the nuclear nature of such an explosion for long, as the radioactive isotopes created by a nuclear explosion would be detectable to outside observers around the world. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. ... General Colin Luther Powell, United States Army (Ret. ... For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ... A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ... This page is about negotiations; for the board game, see Diplomacy (game). ... Radioactive decay is the set of various processes by which unstable atomic nuclei (nuclides) emit subatomic particles. ... Isotopes are atoms of a chemical element whose nuclei have the same atomic number, Z, but different atomic weights, A. The word isotope, meaning at the same place, comes from the fact that isotopes are located at the same place on the periodic table. ...

From North Korea

North Korea initially denied that the explosion was nuclear. When prompted for an explanation, North Korea's foreign minister, Paek Nam-sun, officially stated that the explosion "was in fact the deliberate demolition of a mountain as part of a huge hydroelectric project". North Korea announced on September 13, 2004 that the British ambassador, David Slinn, would be permitted to visit the site. Diplomats from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and Mongolia visited what was purported to be the site on September 16, 2004, and reported having seen a hydroelectric project under construction. However, South Korea said the diplomats had been in the wrong place, about 100 km from the suspected explosion site. A minister for foreign affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the governmental foreign policy of a sovereign nation. ... Paek Nam-sun (b. ... Demolition of the Old Myer Building, Perth, Western Australia. ... Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska (USA) has the highest visible base-to-summit elevation on Earth (approximately 5400 metres). ... Hydroelectric dam diagram The waters of Llyn Stwlan, the upper reservoir of the Ffestiniog Pumped-Storage Scheme in north Wales, can just be glimpsed on the right. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ... September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

From South Korea

On September 17, 2004, South Korean Vice Minister of unification Rhee Bong-jo claimed that there was no explosion at all at the purported site, saying the supposed mushroom cloud was a natural cloud formation (mushroom clouds form from many types of large explosions, not only nuclear detonations). On the same day the Korea Earthquake Research Center reported that the only seismic activity in Ryanggang province in the period in question was at 23:24 Korea Standard Time (UTC +9) on September 8, 2004, at Mount Baekdu, about 100 km from the suspected blast site. September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Korea Standard Time (KST) is the standard timezone in North and South Korea and is 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+9): ie. ... ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Baitou (Paektu) Mountain is a mountain on the border between China and North Korea. ...

North Korean disarmament talks

At the time of the blast, North Korea was under pressure to again resume six-way diplomatic talks concerning its nuclear program with the United States, South Korea, the People's Republic of China, Russia, and Japan. North Korea was insisting on a delay before a fourth round of talks, citing South Korea's recently-revealed secret nuclear program. On September 14, 2004 a British envoy said that North Korea was still committed to the talks, but on September 27, 2004 the KCNA (North Korea's state news agency) reported that resumption of the talks was out of the question until the United States made certain concessions. It is unclear what effects the explosion might have on the talks, if continued, or on the negotiations concerning resumption of the talks. Six-party talks is the name given to a series of meetings with six participating states - the Peoples Republic of China, South Korea, North Korea, the United States of America, the Russian Federation and Japan. ... In the autumn of 2004, South Korea publicly revealed for the first time the extent of its highly-secretive nuclear research programs, including some experiments which were conducted without reporting them to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in violation of its status as a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory... September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 27 is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) is the state news agency of North Korea and has existed since December 5, 1946. ...

Since the initial days, there has been essentially no followup reporting in Western media.

On the 28th of September, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi Su-heon announced at the UN General Assembly that it had turned plutonium from 8,000 spent fuel rods into nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the US nuclear threat. Six-nation talks on the nuclear issue, which were due to resume, were instead suspended. As of this date, analysts believed North Korea had ruled out further talks until after the US presidential election in November. See also North Korea nuclear weapons program. North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia... United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. ... The United States presidential elections determine who becomes the President of the United States for the next four years. ... North Korea has been attempting to obtain nuclear weapons since the late 1970s. ...

Cause

There has been a great deal of speculation on the nature of the incident. Hypotheses can be divided on several axes.

Things that could cause the physical phenomena observed:

• Detonation of a nuclear weapon.
• A large chemical explosive blast.
• A forest fire. The United States National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, said "maybe it was ... some kind of forest fire". The Yonhap news agency also quoted a source suggesting a forest fire. However, forest fires don't leave craters or cause significant seismic events. (Although a forest fire could possibly be a cause or effect of an explosion.)
• A natural cumulonimbus cloud formation. This hypothesis, too, fails to account for the apparent crater, or any seismic disturbance.

If there were an explosion, the main possible causes: The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... Fire in San Bernardino, California Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire in wildland often caused by lightning; other common causes are human carelessness and arson. ... The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues. ... Condoleezza Rice (born November 14, 1954) is the 66th and current United States Secretary of State, and the second in the administration of President George W. Bush. ... Yonhap news agency is the sole news agency in South Korea that supplies domestic and foreign news and information to newspaper and TV broadcast and other subscribers in South Korea. ... Cumulonimbus (Cb) is a type of cloud that is tall, dense, and involved in thunderstorms and other bad weather. ...

• North Korea's official explanation of demolition for a hydroelectric project.
• A nuclear weapon test or demonstration. There had been reported recent intelligence that North Korea might have been planning its first nuclear bomb test, and the significant date lends credence to this hypothesis. However, it would be strange for North Korea to then deny it, and international officials have said that it does not appear to have been a nuclear explosion. (Later updates in intelligence suggested that the test planning may have not been what it appeared to be.)
• A nuclear accident. Likewise, it has been denied that the explosion was nuclear.
• A large chemical explosive blast, to calibrate for a later nuclear test.
• Explosion of a munitions dump or of explosives in a munitions factory.

Finally, another way to divide up explosion hypotheses is by how intentional it was: The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ...

• Intended by North Korea.
• Accidental. North Korea's failing economy has made its industry accident-prone, as seen in the Ryongchon disaster earlier in 2004.
• Enemy action from a foreign state. North Korea has plenty of enemies who would be pleased by the destruction of a suspected uranium enrichment plant.
• Military/terrorist action connected with an internal power struggle.

With this dearth of solid information, the reactions from North Korea and other states form part of the reasoning of most interesting hypotheses. There is little solid information to go on: most statements are hedged, no one has been caught unequivocally lying, and the stakes are potentially high enough for all interested states to hide the truth from the public. The only really certain conclusion that can be drawn is that those states in the know are united in not wishing to make a public diplomatic incident out of whatever has happened. The Ryongchŏn disaster was a train disaster that occurred in the town of Ryongchŏn, North Korea near the border with China on April 22, 2004. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

North Korea's claim to possess nuclear weapons on February 10, 2005 gives the nuclear testing or accident hypotheses some credibility. However no neighboring nations have claimed any detection of radioactive isotopes which would be characteristic of either. On October 9, 2006, North Korea claimed to have tested its first nuclear weapon (see 2006 North Korean nuclear test for more details). February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... On Monday, October 9, 2006, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon for the first time according to news reports. ...

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
• Behind Enemy Lines: Axis of Evil (Action Movie supporting the enemy action theory of the explosion.)

This is a list of Wikipedia articles on Korea-related people, places, things, and concepts. ... North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, and it is widely believed to have a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons (deliverable by artillery). ... Action movies usually involve a fairly straightforward story of good guys versus bad guys, where most disputes are resolved by using physical force. ...

External links

• Yahoo! News: U.S. Says N. Korea Blast Probably Not Nuclear
• Free Republic: Gov't Confirms 'Non-Nuclear' N. Korean Explosion
• BBC News: N. Korea blast 'was not nuclear'
• BBC News: UK demands N. Korea explain blast
• BBC News: N. Korea allows blast site visit
• BBC News: N. Korea 'will talk' says UK envoy
• Nuclear Test in North Korea? (commentary suggesting that the blast was in fact nuclear)
• HoustonChronicle.com: North Korea: Talks depend on South
• Digital Chosunilbo: Signs Indicate No Explosion Occurred in N. Korea's Kim Hyong-jik County
• China Daily: No explosion at all
• KCNA Blasts U.S. for Overturning Groundwork of Six-party Talks