September 20, 2004
No explosion, no explaination.
The North Koreans recently seem to have a penchant for creating large craters and not bothering to explain them satisfactorily to the rest of the world. Earlier this year for example, an explosion occured at Ryongchon Station in North Phyongan Province, killing (perhpas) hundreds and injuring (perhaps) thousands, and destroying (perhaps) as many homes. I say perhpas, because five days after the explosion, the Korean Central News Agency reported that " damage is unexpectedly gaining in scope," and if the government mouthpiece couldn't get it right after five days, we'll probably never know the truth.
Whatever the case, initial reports indicated that the blast was triggered when one train car carrying ammonium nitrate and another carrying fuel oil (think Oklahoma City) collied with one another during shunting. Later informationsuggested the cause of the blast to be explosives carried on board the trains. Several monts after the fact, at least one source reported that the tragedy happened following the train's coming into contact with power lines, though the story was probably refering to the electric power cables between train cars. (If this really were caused by actual power lines, it has to be one of the sadder ironies of the century that in such a power-starved country, such a massive explosion could be caused by the tragic contact between two energy sources. ) And of course there are those who believe the whole thing to be a botched assassination attempt on the Dear Leader's life. All anyone can say for certain was that it was a big explosion, that left a big hole, and killed a lot of people.
So, given the North's record for explosions and sudden weapons tests, when reports described a large explosion and a two-mile wide mushroom cloud hovering just south of the border with China, the most immediate question on everyone's mind was, "was it nuclear?" U.S. and South Korean officials were quick to dismiss that possibility, and soon after the blast the North Korean government allowed a government delegation from the U.K. to visit the site and verify.
Speculation during the following week was rampant, while the North Koreans continued to maintain it was a planned demolition of a mountian as part of a hydroelectric project. However bizzare that might have been, coming from the North Koreans, it was to be expected. Now, the story has taken an even more bizzare twist over the weekned as the South Korean government has come out and declared that there was no explosion!I first ran across these two paragraphs (see below) tucked away in the "World in Brief" section of the Saturday Washington Post and was able to confirm it this afternoon with an AP report.
Not only was there no explosion, but there was no explaination either. But the South Korean government's attepmt at writing the whole thing off as a "natural occurance," isn't going to satisfy anyone and just has the them sounding exactly like the North Koreans when they try to cover something up. So here we have the South reporting an explosion, which is later confirmed by the North, only to be later denied by the South, and then re-confirmed by the North!
There are a million questions that one could ask here, but to begin with a few... If there was no explosion to begin with, why in God's name would the North lie and say that there was? On the other hand, if there was indeed an explosion, why in God's name would the South try and cover it up after admitting it? And given the South's recent bombshell about its tests involving plutonium and uranium, which side does one trust on this one?
Whatever the case, initial reports indicated that the blast was triggered when one train car carrying ammonium nitrate and another carrying fuel oil (think Oklahoma City) collied with one another during shunting. Later information
So, given the North's record for explosions and sudden weapons tests, when reports described a large explosion and a two-mile wide mushroom cloud hovering just south of the border with China, the most immediate question on everyone's mind was, "was it nuclear?" U.S. and South Korean officials were quick to dismiss that possibility, and soon after the blast the North Korean government allowed a government delegation from the U.K. to visit the site and verify.
Speculation during the following week was rampant, while the North Koreans continued to maintain it was a planned demolition of a mountian as part of a hydroelectric project. However bizzare that might have been, coming from the North Koreans, it was to be expected. Now, the story has taken an even more bizzare twist over the weekned as the South Korean government has come out and declared that there was no explosion!
Not only was there no explosion, but there was no explaination either. But the South Korean government's attepmt at writing the whole thing off as a "natural occurance," isn't going to satisfy anyone and just has the them sounding exactly like the North Koreans when they try to cover something up. So here we have the South reporting an explosion, which is later confirmed by the North, only to be later denied by the South, and then re-confirmed by the North!
There are a million questions that one could ask here, but to begin with a few... If there was no explosion to begin with, why in God's name would the North lie and say that there was? On the other hand, if there was indeed an explosion, why in God's name would the South try and cover it up after admitting it? And given the South's recent bombshell about its tests involving plutonium and uranium, which side does one trust on this one?
• SEOUL -- South Korea's latest assessment of a widely reported explosion in North Korea last week is that there was no blast at all at the suspected site, a deputy minister said.
Seismic signals and strange cloud formations picked up last week were not from an explosion, said the deputy minister of unification, Rhee Bong Jo.
# posted by Saru : 4:50 PM
