South Korea Raises Prospect of a North Korean Nuclear Test

[alp227]

Source: NYT

North Korea appears to be preparing for its third underground nuclear test even as it presses ahead with assembling a long-range rocket for its planned launching of a satellite this month, a South Korean government spokesman said Sunday.

Unconfirmed South Korean news reports in the past two years have alleged that North Korea was digging new tunnels at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in Kilju, near the northeastern tip of the country, to follow up on two underground tests it conducted there in 2006 and 2009.

On Sunday, the government spokesman, who requested anonymity because he said he could not speak on the record on intelligence matters, said satellite images showed a growing pile of earth near the entrance of one tunnel, and government analysts said they considered it a potential sign of preparations for a test. A large amount of earth is needed to seal a tunnel before detonating a nuclear device inside.

The spokesman was confirming reports carried Sunday by the South Korean national news agency, Yonhap, and other national news outlets. The domestic media reports were identical in their wording and details. South Korean television stations also carried satellite images showing the pile but did not reveal who had provided them.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/world/asia/south-koreans-suspect-that-north-plans-nuclear-test.html

[Meiko]

1. They are going to mess around

and blow themselves up. Enough already with the nukes, no body needs these things. Why does NK want to put itself on the target list? Is this another one of their deals where they promise not to blow shit up in exchange for food....

[David__77]

3. They are taking themselves off the target list by having nukes.

Not putting themselves on it. That's the lesson to all the non-nuclear states.

[jimlup]

5. Yep!

And if we are serious about non-proliferation we would do well to understand this lesson and stop putting states on the "target list." I can't think of a bigger incentive for Iran than to get itself off the target list than to succeed at a viable nuclear deterrent.

[daleo]

7. Who needs these things?

Apparently U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and Israel.

[bahrbearian]

2. Hey ' look over there, lets bomb Iran.

[starfox172]

4. north korea should priortize food & fuel before nukes

[David__77]

6. N. Korea gets a lot of free food and fuel precisely because it has a nuclear program.

S. Korea, Japan, and the US have sent lots in attempts to rein in the N. Koreans. Now N. Korea has nukes and the food and fuel is used to bribe the N. Koreans into not using them.