Daily Kos

North Korea: "We blew up a mountain"

by ClaudeB

Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:15:23 PM PDT

No, it was not a nukular explosion as previously speculated here and elsewhere. The BBC reports that DPRK Foreign minister said the explosion was part of an hydro-electric development in the northern part of the country.
The country's foreign minister, Paek Nam Sun, said the blast was the deliberate demolition of a mountain as part of a hydro-electric project.
Update [2004-9-13 8:12:49 by ClaudeB]:According to a new story by the BBC, UK Foreign Office Minister, Bill Rammell, who is presently in North Korea for talks with senior Pyongyang officials, has obtained a permission for foreign diplomats to visit the site of the explosion.

Tags: (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

Permalink | 23 comments

  •  Phew! (4.00 / 5)

    I thought we were in some danger there. But now that those honest North Koreans denied it, I feel all better.

    by Smedley Hirkum on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:17:27 PM PDT

  •  Blowing up mountains is like so last year. (4.00 / 3)

    "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." Hunter S Thompson

    by spot on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:19:47 PM PDT

  •  Jumping the gun? (none / 0)

    I know the world is going nuts these days, but sometimes I feel we (me included) should take a breath before speculating.

    John McCain Defends Bush's Iraq Strategy.

    by ClaudeB on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:20:32 PM PDT

    •  Boo! (none / 0)

      They're probably howling with laughter at the way they made us all brown our BVDs. That, and wondering what effect a real nuke test would have. We've just signalled to them how to get our attention.

      by sagesource on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:26:12 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  I concur but (none / 1)

      you left out the part of the BBC story where the British government demanded that a diplomat be let in to observe the site.

      I don't jump to any conclusion; nor do I think the matter is settled.

      Its interesting that it has apparently been an entire week, and still there is no clearly defined "message" from the White House.

      Fox was definitely playing it as proof of nukes.

      Let's see how this plays out.

      by Zach in Phoenix on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 11:39:52 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  Blew up a mountain? (none / 1)

    That's what happens when some butterfingers drops a ball of plutoium on the floor.

    James Webb is a bigot. And an uber hawk. Stephanie Herseth is a bigot. Harold Ford, Jr. is a bigot. And so are those who support them.

    by NorCalJim on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:22:39 PM PDT

  •  The most stupid initial reaction (4.00 / 4)

    from CIA analysts: The blast was forest fire.
    No wonder the mess in Iraq, the complete failure of 911.

    Forest fire...

    by hillarious on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:25:31 PM PDT

  •  Blew up a mountain (4.00 / 2)

    My question is where does North Korea have the resources to fund the production of some hydro-electrical plant, of which it is necessary to blow up a mountain, creating a 2 1/2 mile crater visible from outerspace?

    I agree with the post above.  They blew up a mountain.  With a nuclear bomb.

    by mikel1814 on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:42:37 PM PDT

    •  Hydro makes sense (none / 1)

      According to the US Department of Energy, the DPRK relies heavily on two domestic sources of energy: hydro power and coal. But the availability of coal has been reduced in recent years because of the scarcity of rail transportation.

      Hydro is a well-proven source of energy, which is understood and mastered. So, it would make sense for the stalinist regime (who wants to maintain autarcy) to develop that source.

      North Korea relies on two domestic sources of commercial energy -- coal and hydropower -- for most of its energy needs. In 2001, coal accounted for about 86% of the country's primary energy consumption.

      North Korea's electric generating capacity is split nearly evenly between coal-fired thermal plants and hydroelectric plants. In 2001, hydroelectric power plants generated about 69% of North Korea's electricity and thermal plants about 31%. The country's thermal generating capacity is underutilized due to a lack of fuels. The country's total electricity consumption in 2001 was only 58% of what it had been in 1991. The only year-on-year increase in electricity consumption during the entire period from 1992 to 2001 was for 1999 -- and that was only 1%.

      John McCain Defends Bush's Iraq Strategy.

      by ClaudeB on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 11:11:25 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  Mushroom Clouds (4.00 / 2)

    If we have so many experts on proportionally-spaced fonts on typewriters of the early 1970s, why don't we have any experts who can tell us what other events have the capability of creating a mushroom cloud?

    Prof. McCain
    By Iraq, is Pakistan near,
    While Czechoslovakia's here.
    Sunnis are Shi'a,
    Sudan is Somalia,
    and Putin's the German premier.

    by Michael D on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:52:44 PM PDT

    •  Non-Expert Talking (none / 0)

      It was my understanding, by the way, that any explosion had the capability of creating a mushroom cloud, due to the vacuum of the uplift created by the explosion.  For example, the much-discussed MOAB can create a 10,000-foot mushroom cloud when it blows up, and it is not nuclear.

      Prof. McCain
      By Iraq, is Pakistan near,
      While Czechoslovakia's here.
      Sunnis are Shi'a,
      Sudan is Somalia,
      and Putin's the German premier.

      by Michael D on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 10:57:29 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  Can we ask Valerie Plame? (4.00 / 3)

      After all, her field of expertise is weapons of mass destruction, and I guess she can freelance now that Cheney and the other SOB's he uses have "outed" her.

      I do not suffer fools gladly

      by GreekGirl on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 11:32:44 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  Come on... (4.00 / 2)

      Be serious here.  Nobody needs that kind of esoteric, highly specialized knowledge.  Let's focus on the things that really matter.  Like kerning!!

      Read James Loewen's "Sundown Towns"!

      by ChicagoDem on Sun Sep 12, 2004 at 11:56:04 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  I updated my diary to include this (none / 0)

    I swore I wouldn't be a diaryPimpDork again, but I'm really, really interested in this - call me obsessed, but I think it's important.

    Nuclear detonation detection discussion here.


    Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed. -- Bruce Springsteen

    by Plutonium Page on Mon Sep 13, 2004 at 05:06:30 AM PDT

  •  Great Moments In Diplomatic History (4.00 / 2)

    Brit Diplomat:  Most distinguished subaltern of Dear Leader, Her Majesty's Government demands to know the cause of the extraordinary explosion that took place in your country Wednesday last, sir!

    DS of DL:  My most distinguished representative of capitalist lackey monarch, as your own distinguished minstrel and bard Mr. Leitch has put it, "first there is a mountain/then there is no mountain/then there is . . . "

    It certainly will be fascinating to discover just what occurred last week in the Korean mountains near the Chinese border.

    "L'enfer, c'est les autres." - Jean Paul Sartre, Huis Clos

    "L'enfer, c'est le GOP!" - JJB, from an idea by oratorio

    by JJB on Mon Sep 13, 2004 at 07:15:50 AM PDT

  •  N Korea laughing (none / 0)

    "The country's foreign minister, Paek Nam Sun, said the blast was the deliberate demolition of a mountain as part of a hydro-electric project."  

         Surely it is a great pleasure to have the chance to deliver lines like that with a straight face.  

         I don't think much of the hydro-electric-project theory.  Usually for blasting rock you want high-explosives--to make the rock break and shatter so you can haul it away--not the sort of thermal explosion that makes a mushroom cloud.  You don't do it all at once either.  

         The N Koreans are playing with us.  

    by gaianne on Mon Sep 13, 2004 at 02:59:04 PM PDT

Permalink | 23 comments