In North Korea earlier this week: an explosion, a giant crater, and a “peculiar cloud.” Both the South Korean government and the US government say they don’t believe North Korea conducted a nuclear test.
The event took place on the day of North Korea’s most important national holiday. September 9, 1948, is the day on which the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was founded.
President Bush and his top advisers have received intelligence reports in recent days describing a confusing series of actions by North Korea that some experts believe could indicate the country is preparing to conduct its first test explosion of a nuclear weapon, according to senior officials with access to the intelligence.
While the indications were viewed as serious enough to warrant a warning to the White House, American intelligence agencies appear divided about the significance of the new North Korean actions, much as they were about the evidence concerning Iraq’s alleged weapons stockpiles.
Some analysts in agencies that were the most cautious about the Iraq findings have cautioned that they do not believe the activity detected in North Korea in the past three weeks is necessarily the harbinger of a test. A senior scientist who assesses nuclear intelligence says the new evidence “is not conclusive,” but is potentially worrisome.
Link to Reuters report, reg-free Link to New York Times story
Update: News reports are now saying the blast may have been related to a dam-building project, or some similar public work.