BREAKING NEWS: North Korea claims nuclear test!

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by cronos_qc
I think that their nuclear test and research are a way to keep us away from their principal and secret activity, and certainly the most dangerous one; creating a powerful and gigantic army of clones.....
billions of clones invading the worlds...

Yeah, that didn't work out too well the first time that was tried ...

[Elok]

Speaking of movies, I sincerely hope nobody ever shows KJI "Soylent Green." We don't need him to get any ideas.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by LordShiva
Underground tests don't release radioactivity that can be detected above ground.

I was under the impression that they did.

[SlowwHand]

Unless you're of the opinion NK is more technically advanced...

http://www.iris.iris.edu/HQ/Bluebook/chapter2.footnotes.html

Of approximately 350 underground tests that took place in Kazakhstan between 1962 - 1989, roughly one of every three explosions accidentally vented into the atmosphere. In 30 cases, the radiation penetrated into populated settlements and areas where sheep were herded.

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/physics/sobel/Nucphys/test.html

Thus the first arms control measure was the Limited Test Ban Treaty, ratified in 1963, which prohibits testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water. Underground testing continued through 1992, when President Bush ordered a moritorium on testing. This moratorium has been observed by both Russia and the U.S. since. Although testing underground was supposed to prevent the release of radioactivity to the environment, it has been learned recently that Soviet tests in Kazakhstan created large fissures in the earth's surface, and many cases of radiation-induced disease are documented among the population in that region.

[Starchild]

Originally posted by Elok
Speaking of movies, I sincerely hope nobody ever shows KJI "Soylent Green." We don't need him to get any ideas.

Well, North Korean Kim Chi is off my shopping list now.

[LordShiva]

I guess repeated testing in an area might cause those fissures that that article spoke about. The Indian and Pakistani tests in 1998 didn't release any detectable radiation into the atmosphere, nor did the Indian test in 1974. I'm not sure how advanced NK's test site was, but I wouldn't take the absence of detected radiation to indicate that no test took place.

[SlowwHand]

Wasn't there footage of the ground above where the test took place?
I saw something on television when I was eating pizza last night and didn't catch it all.
A definite ripple and resemblance to the outline of a crater.
Whether it was the NK test, I don't know.

[SlowwHand]

Bush, Chinese envoy meet over N. Korea

23 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A special envoy of Chinese President
Hu Jintao told President George W. Bush on Thursday that China wanted a strong U.N. response to
North Korea's claimed nuclear test, a White House spokesman said.

China's State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan also indicated to Bush that China wants sanctions related to North Korea's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, said the spokesman, Frederick Jones.

Meanwhile, at the
United Nations, China and Russia urged the United States not to rush to a vote on a new U.N. draft resolution to punish North Korea, saying they still had serious issues with the document.

Tang also met with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and White House national security adviser
Stephen Hadley at the White House, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity following North Korea's announcement that it had tested a nuclear device.

Chinese officials "also indicated an appreciation for the president's commitment to solving the situation by diplomatic means," Jones said. "We will continue to consult with the Chinese on the diplomatic way forward."

In China, the foreign ministry said China and the United States were discussing a possible visit to Beijing by Rice. The State Department had no details on Rice's travel plans.

Tang was also expected to meet with Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. envoy to stalled North Korean nuclear negotiations.

Kim Jong Il's government in North Korea has said sanctions would be considered an act of war and threatened more nuclear tests if they were imposed.

China has joined other
U.N. Security Council members in unanimously condemning North Korea's claimed test. But as North Korea's last major ally, Beijing has not agreed to severe sanctions backed by Washington.

China appeared to shy away from backing U.S. efforts to impose a travel ban and financial sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test, saying any U.N. action should focus on bringing its communist neighbor back to talks.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said North Korea should understand it had made a mistake but "punishment should not be the purpose" of any U.N. response.

U.N. action "should be conducive to the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula ... and the resumption of the talks," he told reporters. "It's necessary to express clearly to North Korea that ... the international community is opposed to this nuclear test."

The United States has circulated a new U.N. Security Council resolution that seeks to ban travel by people involved in North Korea's weapons program but softens some other measures to win Russian and Chinese support. North Korea warned it would consider increased U.S. pressure an act of war and take unspecified countermeasures.

China's response to the crisis has been closely watched because it is considered to have the most leverage with the unpredictable, reclusive North Korean regime. China, a veto-wielding Security Council member, is the North's top provider of desperately needed energy and economic aid.

Chinese officials have refused to say publicly what consequences they believe North Korea should face for its claimed nuclear test, although its U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, agreed earlier this week that the Security Council must impose "punitive actions."

Japan is imposing its own new sanctions against North Korea. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party approved several harsh measures Thursday, including limits on imports and a ban on all North Korean ships in Japanese waters.

The latest U.S. proposal, obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday night, dropped Japanese demands to prohibit North Koreans ships from entering any port, and North Korean aircraft from taking off or landing in any country. These sanctions would likely face strong Russian and Chinese opposition.

The resolution would still require countries to freeze all assets related to North Korea's weapons and missile programs. But a call to freeze assets from other illicit activities such as "counterfeiting, money-laundering or narcotics" was dropped. So was a call to prevent "any abuses of the international financial system" that could contribute to the transfer or development of banned weapons.

The North will consider increased U.S. pressure "a declaration of war," RI Kong Son, vice spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with AP Television News in Pyongyang. He said North Korea would take unspecified "physical countermeasures."

Song Il Ho, a North Korean envoy to Japan, gave a similar warning to Tokyo. "We will take strong countermeasures," he told Kyoto News Agency.

Since Pyongyang announced it exploded its first atomic bomb Monday, there have been daily South Korean and Japanese news reports that the North is preparing another test.

On Thursday, the South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo quoted an unidentified source familiar with North Korean affairs as saying a second test would occur in two or three days.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service could not immediately be reached for comment.

South Korean scientists have been scrambling for signs of radioactivity that would confirm Monday's underground test. Han Seung-jae, an official at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, said experts were still unsure the North had tested a nuclear device.

"So far, we have not detected any abnormal level of radioactivity" in South Korea, he said.

Japanese military planes have also been monitoring for radioactivity in the atmosphere but have reported no abnormal readings.

North Korea has been demanding direct talks with the United States, but
President Bush refused to agree to such a meeting in a news conference Wednesday. He argued that Pyongyang would be more likely to listen to the protests of many nations.

Bush added that the U.S. was ready to defend its allies in the region, but that it would also try to use diplomacy to deal with North Korea.

"I believe the commander in chief must try all diplomatic measures before we commit our military," he said.

[Drake Tungsten]

Dovetailing on that, the Korean peninsula doesn't really get earthquakes.

Sounds like a pretty safe place, nuclear-armed maniacs excluded...

[SlowwHand]

There's a lot of things that get me, but this "North Korea has been demanding direct talks with the United States," really gets me. They demand? Beides the obvious fact of where do they get off with this demanding crap, again, why the USA?

I would also point out that 5 years ago when Bush spoke of the "Axis of Evil", those he named have done everything possible to show he was right.

[Drake Tungsten]

They didn't do anything bad until Bush called them evil, Sloww. Haven't you spent enough time on Poly to know that?

[SlowwHand]

Oh, yeah. Thanks, Drake.

[Vince278]

Originally posted by Elok
Speaking of movies, I sincerely hope nobody ever shows KJI "Soylent Green." We don't need him to get any ideas.

He's seen it years ago.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Vince278
He's seen it years ago.

Er, how do you know? Does he have a Myspace page he lists his fave films on or something? If so, what's his handle on there? "DearLeaderJuche" would be my guess.

[SlowwHand]

ShortDwarf

Doesn't even qualify as a dwarf. A dwarf would scoff at him.