North Korea says it has conducted third nuke test
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -North Korea successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday, state media said, defying U.N. Security Council orders to shut down atomic activity or face more sanctions and international isolation.
The underground explosion could take North Korea a big step closer to its goal of building a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a long-range missile that could threaten the United States.
Official state media said the test was conducted in a safe manner and is aimed at coping with "outrageous" U.S. hostility that "violently" undermines the North's peaceful, sovereign rights to launch satellites. North Korea faced sanctions after a December launch of a rocket the U.N. and Washington called a cover for a banned missile test.
The North said it used a "lighter, miniaturized atomic bomb" that still has more explosive force than past tests.
The United States Geological Survey said earlier Tuesday that it had detected a 4.9 magnitude earthquake in North Korea.
The nuclear test is North Korea's first since leader Kim Jong Un took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, and marks a bold statement for the young leader as he unveils his domestic and foreign policy for a country long estranged from the West.
South Korea's U.N. Mission informed reporters early Tuesday that he U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on North Korea's nuclear test on Tuesday morning. South Korea joined the Security Council in January for a 2-year term and currently holds the council's rotating presidency.
South Korea's Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan is in New York to preside over a council meeting scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.
Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect North Korea's goal of building nuclear warheads small enough to be placed on long-range missiles. This atomic test - North Korea's third since 2006 - is expected to take Pyongyang closer to possessing nuclear-tipped missiles designed to strike the United States.
The underground explosion could take North Korea a big step closer to its goal of building a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a long-range missile that could threaten the United States.
Official state media said the test was conducted in a safe manner and is aimed at coping with "outrageous" U.S. hostility that "violently" undermines the North's peaceful, sovereign rights to launch satellites. North Korea faced sanctions after a December launch of a rocket the U.N. and Washington called a cover for a banned missile test.
The North said it used a "lighter, miniaturized atomic bomb" that still has more explosive force than past tests.
The United States Geological Survey said earlier Tuesday that it had detected a 4.9 magnitude earthquake in North Korea.
The nuclear test is North Korea's first since leader Kim Jong Un took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, and marks a bold statement for the young leader as he unveils his domestic and foreign policy for a country long estranged from the West.
South Korea's U.N. Mission informed reporters early Tuesday that he U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on North Korea's nuclear test on Tuesday morning. South Korea joined the Security Council in January for a 2-year term and currently holds the council's rotating presidency.
South Korea's Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan is in New York to preside over a council meeting scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.
Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect North Korea's goal of building nuclear warheads small enough to be placed on long-range missiles. This atomic test - North Korea's third since 2006 - is expected to take Pyongyang closer to possessing nuclear-tipped missiles designed to strike the United States.
So N Korea is blatently thumbing their noses at us, and threatening the US. Where the F$*k is our worthless commander? Haven't heard a peep from him about this - what does he plan to do? Sounds like NK is preparing to declare war on the US and BHO has nothing to say? Typical.
 @wondering Your turn to propose a solution.  NK won't declare war on the US in my lifetime.  They might against SK, but that's unlikely too.  Even if they did, they pose absolutely no threat to the security of this nation.  They have no ICBM, no long range bombers capable of reaching the US, no naval support at the level required to initiate an invasion - in short, nothing.  The only thing that would drag us in is our compacts with their neighbors.
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They are only a threat on the peninsula on which they live, and maybe to Japan.
 @Festivus  @wonderingNorth Korea wouldn't have to declare war, South and North Korea are still technically at war. The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when the armistice agreement was signed. Peace has never been declared. Also, the missile testing to launch a satellite had little to do with space exploration and more to do with delivering nuclear weapons.
One possible solution would be to give them a missile capable of carrying a warhead. Let them put a warhead on it and then put the whole shebang on a launch pad. And then ask them, "What now?"
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Remind them that we have satellites and that if that missile launches, it will be seen and the favor will be returned. Remind them that the US and Russians deterred each other with that exact principle - and the Russians had thousands of nuclear weapons.
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Admittedly, I'm being sarcastic, but nuclear missiles are in a sense useless. Containing and isolating North Korea keeps the problem in North Korea. In my view, the bigger problem is Pakistan. No, they will never launch a missile at the US, but their scientists have and will traipse about the globe spreading their know how.
 @Max Quinn I agree completely.  This is not a  new problem, just a new player, and the solutions are not very much different.
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This is NK sabre rattling. Â We are no where near actual hostilities with mobile launchers on an island less than 100 miles of our shore, or submarines with launch capability. Â
Sure they did.Show me the proof.
@Jim330rifle Haha - what proof would it take exactly?
 @Oregon7812  @Jim330rifle Air samples.Rad. readings stuff like that.Normal tnt can be used to fake a nuc.
China says it does not support this action the untied states and the united nations says they do not support this action yet nothing is done. to stand by and talk and to take no action is a form of support, saying and interrupting their intentions is two different things. maybe it is time the united states finishes what was left off in 1973
You mean what it didn't finish in 1958, don't you?
@musiclover I think he means he doesn't have a clue what he is talking about.
If China and N Korea had a nuclear war, Target and Walmart would run out of things to sell at ridiculously inflated prices.
 @Quaoptician Hello? China and N Korea are allies.Â
 @KKStJohn  @Quaoptician Only because China dosen't want a Democratic Korea like they have in the South on there border.
 @Quaoptician This is an impressive amount of nonsense in just one sentence.  Kudos to you.Â
@Quaoptician Why would China an N Korea have a nuclear war?
China is not going to allow North Korea to wage nuclear war. Doing so might force a nuclear counterattack on North Korea, which would harm China.
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China's options would be to stop North Korea in exchange for land or resources, allow an American nuclear attack to drift toward China, or to launch a nuclear war and assume that we're going to nuke the Himalayas and contaminate the drinking and irrigation water for the entire region for the next ten thousand years.
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There is no advantage to China to have a nuclear war. Despite all the geopolitical brinksmanship, they're on our side.
Isn't a 4.9 kind of indicative of a fizzle? Little Boy was a 6.0 which would be 10x the shaking and over 30 times as much energy. Seems to me like it was only the high explosives that detonated and it didn't go critical.
 @brentbusch The estimate is that it was between 6 to 10 kt. The Hiroshima bomb was about 15kt and killed about 70,000 from the blast and 70,000 more from later effects. Even at 6 kt, this would still result in a large loss of life if it were to be dropped on a city.Â
 @Saltire This shows a 5.0 would be only 480 tons, not even half of one kt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale
 @NGerblansky  @SaltireÂ
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If all of it was converted to tectonic energy, then yes. However much of it was released as heat, and even more could have escaped to the surface if the blast was not contained completely, depending on how deep it was buried and the type of rock. Thus the blast was likely between 5-50kt, most likely. A measurement of the crater, by satellite picture, would given a more accurate estimation. DIA almost certainly has an estimate accurate to within a kt or so, already.
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NK recently published a video praising, wait for it, the NK state! OK so that is not unusual, but it also showed New York after a NK nuclear attack.
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It seems that this administration looks at Kim Il Jung like many of the morons who visit this site. We worry about his tailor or his barber or the fact that he outweigh most of NK's population by 100 pounds. Our newspapers make mocking cartoons about him.
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Does any of this sound familiar? It sure does to me.
The little fathead is simply misunderstood. I'm sure that Kitzhaber will offer him a condo in the Pearl because nobody ever tried to reeeeeason with him. If we make him feel all warm and fuzzy then he will sort out his feeeelings and then we all embrace his vision. Kitzhaber will then ask him to co-govern Oregon with him.
Oh LOL! Well, not really, it could happen with the fruit baskets running this place.
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 @Mr. Carbon Footprint He'd be trading up...NK has a GDP of <$2000USD, while Oregon has an equivilent GDP of $37,633USD.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states_and_countries_by_per_capita_GDP_(nominal)
A challenge to the un - who doesn't
Hitler was allowed to build his army in spite of the Treaty of Versailles that severely limited Germanys ability to make war. The allies warned him over and over to stop but he knew they would do nothing. Of course he was right and that was the start of WW2.
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Now we have a lunatic with nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. Yet we just sit around and let him do it. I suppose that he will have to nuke a major city before we actually do something about it. More than likely the world is now afraid that if we do intervene he will send off some nukes in retaliation.
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Either way, it never should have gone this far.
 @RalphCramden Achieved: early onset of Godwin's Law.
 @anahitÂ
If you actually read Godwins Law it correlates to the longer the discussion the more likely Hitler or Nazi will be brought into the discussion. Since I made the original post without any discussion then Godwins Law does not apply.
 @anahitÂ
Your post was not a joke. It wasn't ever sarcasm. Now you are backpeddling you Nazi....8-}
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Now that is Godwins Law.
 @RalphCramden Welcome to Jokeville.  Population: not you.
 @RalphCramden Allright, you had your chance to kvetch about what you don't like.  Now what would you do, as King Ralph?  What's your plan to pacify a country with a million man standing army that doesn't cost us 100,000 dead troops?  You think China's going to sit idly by while we carpet bomb Pyongyang, or show 'em what a REAL nuclear delivery vehicle looks like up close and personal?
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 @FestivusÂ
If you read my post you would see my answer to your question. I will highlight it for you.
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"More than likely the world is now afraid that if we do intervene he will send off some nukes in retaliation."
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"Either way, it never should have gone this far."
 @Oregon7812 Â
The time for military options is over. NK has nukes and has the ability to send them very long distances including the west coast of the US.
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If we did a military option they would more than likely send a nuke to Seoul.
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The world has a habit of not dealing with these issues until they get to crisis mode. The fact that NK has a million man army and could overrun South Korea in a matter of a few days is very unsettling.
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Now we are at the mercy of NK. They act and the world responds. I don't see any good way out of this and any action will cost a lot of lives.
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It appears that the world is just waiting till NK does something really stupid like nuke someone and then all hell will break lose. Millions will die as in all wars when it could have been dealt with much earlier and maybe less than a million would have died.
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What are your options? Talking to them isn't working and nether is the economic blockade. All that does is make the masses suffer as the military and the well connected have all they need.
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@RalphCramden I am inferring that you are not providing any alternatives. If you are saying we let this go on for too long, and that history is repeating itself because of our inaction - what could we have done differently? As sanctions and pressure were already applied, I can only infer from your post you would have used a military option, that is unless there is another option I am missing and you are still reluctant to divulge.
 @Oregon7812Â
Are you inferring that I said we need to go to war against NK or Iran? I don't remember saying anything like that.
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Are you one of those folks assume things not in evidence?
Interesting. As this is a lesson of what not to do, lets hope we learn this and apply it to other countries. We should obliterate Iran now before they might develop weapons.
 @FestivusÂ
I am not privy to all the options but anything military would risk a nuclear detonation or short lived nuclear war.
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As I said, we let it go on this long now there is no easy answers. It is more of a lesson in history on what not to do, yet have repeatedly ignored for decades.
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It is clear that NK is not going to stop producing nuclear weapons on their own and with the successful launch of their ICBM it would mean only the accurate targeting of their warheads would be lacking.
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The current ICBM was thought to be able to carry 100kg but new estimates think it can carry 500-600kg. It has a range of about 10,000km which puts the west coast of the US in the potential targets list.
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The governments of the world are condemning the nuclear test. Since that has worked so well in the past like it did with pre WW2 Germany we will be safe as NK will see the error of their ways and stop all their military ambitions. Soon they will open their borders and give all the South Koreans a hug and apologize for decades of hostilities.
 @Festivus  @RalphCramden Ralph is quick to criticize anything everyone else does but in reality he has no answers or suggestions....bah.
 @RalphCramden No, that's not an answer.  The question posed is what should we do now?  NK doesn't have a delivery platform capable of sending a nuke to Japan, much less the US - yet. Â
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Saying we waited too long is pointless. Â We are here today. Â Presumably you think appeasement of Hitler was the wrong choice in the 1930s, and I'll guess by extension continued appeasement of NK is also a problem.
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What would you have us actually do now? Â
@RalphCramden You suggest going to war with anyone that might be a threat? Maybe we should nuke China, cos you know, they have nukes and the ability to launch them at us.
 @Oregon7812 Â
If you read my post again you would see that I made no recommendations of going to war or any recommendations about how to deal with it. It appears your reading comprehension is needing some work.
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If you look at history there were folks like you who said the same identical thing for Germany violating the Treaty of Versailles. The world was tired of war since WW1 had just ended and were in no mood to tackle Germany again.
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They pretended that it wasn't important and until 1938 it wasn't much of an issue. Now looking back at it maybe it would have been wise to do something since there were over 72 million killed during that conflict. Granted many of those were killed in the Pacific but still a lot of folks died by ignoring Germany's vast industrial armament during that time.
 @Oregon7812 Â
Most folks already know that. You seem to be the only one that thinks I am important enough to actually think that I can influence anyone about anything.
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Let me give you a hint. People post a lot of things on the internet. Some are valid and can be verified other places while some are just flat out lies that can easily be disputed.
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Sometimes comments are just observations and nothing more.
@RalphCramden Fair enough. Whatever works for you to avoid answering a question. I'll be sure to copy this though so that anything you post on KATU can have the disclaimer that anything you say has zero credibility.
 @Oregon7812 Â
You are asking me for an answer to this issue and upset that I don't have one?
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In case you weren't aware I am some anonymous person on the internet that has a fake name and has said many times am a big zero. No one of any importance.
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Being that you give me any credibility at all is really indicative of your level of understanding of how personas on the internet works.
@RalphCramden The situation is not being ignored, they are attempting to deal with it through sanctions and political pressure. If however this doesn't work (and so far it isn't) then an alternative is required - one which you seem reluctant or unable to provide.
 @Oregon7812 Â
It was the avoidance of the NK issue that they have nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them. That is the same head in the sand attitude the folks who wanted to ignore Germany.
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Look at the principles and not the words.
@RalphCramden You say this "folks like you who said the same identical thing for Germany violating the Treaty of Versailles" right after saying I have reading comprehension issues? At what point did I mention anything about that? In any case, perhaps you could enlighten us as to your grand plan to end the North Korea threat so that we don't get a repeat of Nazi Germany and world war 2. Evidently, they are trying sanctions so you must have an alternative?
 @RalphCramden No worries, Ralph. The UN will censure North Korea and give them a good sound talking too. Just before they put them in time-out.   All the while, the diplomats will downplay the power of the weapon. Even though, a small nuke still can do a lot of damage and kill a lot of people. The "Little Boy" weapon dropped on Hiroshima, in today's parlance, was "ONLY" 15 kt.
Well, they might be the only fat people in North Korea. The rest of the nation is a skin and bone and also very primitive. Neither China, South Korea , Japan , Russia or us wants to take on the financial burden. The 'level it" is much less expensive than anything else. North Korea is rolling the dices.
It is going to be a Left 'wing-ding' with all the beer and food - a real smoker on the ground and I am guessing it will be a time to learn how to survive in this new Frontier since The Kenyan has no ballocks...
 @boned Huh?
@Sundowner .....boned is stoned......again. Don't bother !
 @Rob C 503 Hahaha!  I figured my own *cough* state of mind was why I couldn't understand what he said.  =)