By Could it be that the 2nd North Korean nuclear test was just a big hoax?
South Korean and U.S. authorities have yet to detect radioactive debris in the vicinity of Punggye-ri, North Korea, that is consistent with the North’s May 25th nuclear test.
South Korean government sources said both Seoul’s radioactivity detectors and U.S. reconnaissance planes have been unable to detect traces of radioactive isotopes such as krypton and xenon, two gases emitted after nuclear testing or reprocessing.
Nuclear engineering professor Suh Kune Yull of Seoul National University said that the seismic wave patterns emitted by the underground blast on May 25th were greater than the first test in October 2006. Thus, he point out to a higher possibility of radioactive particles having been emitted after the test.
Suh said an actual scientific confirmation for the North’s second nuclear test may not be possible because the radioactive gases are reliably detectable for seven to ten days after the test. [KBS Global]
Many reports said that the seismic activity from the 2nd nuclear test was large enough to be the equivalent of a Hiroshima size explosion. I don’t see any other way that the North Koreans could have created this explosion other than through a nuclear test. Does anyone reading this have enough knowledge of explosives to explain how such a large blast could be orchestrated with non-nuclear means? Could there be problems with the US reconnaissance planes’ sensors? Could also just be a misinformation campaign by whoever these South Korean government sources are.
8:17 pm on June 15th, 2009 1
What are the sources of the “many reports” and how are they worded. Many reports from sources outside special monitoring use information given in different ways that seem to grow as the media report. Unidentified, unofficial, and inside sources, are not credible sources. Politicians are always suspect, unless given as official information. (even then, given their reputation for distortion, one must be suspect) Most any source should have corroborating information from other sources.
There has been little of this, yet the media, politicians, and others seem to want to jump on the band wagon of nukes in North Korea.
I am fairly certain North Korea has plutonium as advertised.(Its been seen and held in the hands of investigators in North Korea.) Maybe they set off a crude nuke. Debatable, radioactivity was found by the ‘Russians’. No other source.
Many explosives would be required to fake a nuclear explosion. Huge amounts. But not impossible amounts. North Korea has huge amounts of old munitions that perhaps could be enough to con the world. Ridiculas assumption? Not when dealing with North Korea.
Reply
8:21 am on June 16th, 2009 2
10 Kilotons of TNT would do it.
Reply
11:31 am on June 16th, 2009 3
Hmm. Some crude internet research tells me that the Oklahoma City truck bomb was the equivalent of 500 pounds of TNT (0.25 tons). A military 2000 pound bomb has the explosive capacity of about 1000 pounds of TNT (0.5 tons). A conventional explosion of 10 kilotons is 40,000 or 20,000 times as large as each of those respectively.
That seems like an incredible expense of munitions just to rig a phone test. Plus the movement of all of that material would very likely have been noticed by reconnaissance.
Reply
11:37 am on June 16th, 2009 4
correction: phone = phony
Reply
1:39 pm on June 16th, 2009 5
Just like the question of whether the Chinese deliberately crashed their sub into the US sonar, this question is pretty ridiculous. It’s a shame that they’re even being asked.
There’s no way for North Korea to simulate such a large explosion with conventional munitions. No way. That said, just because they did it doesn’t mean that they did it well.
Reply