The story says that South Korea has convened a meeting of security advisors to discuss the matter
ABC News also has a report...looks like the same one.
As pointed out in the comments, this is what happens when you focus all of your attention on places where things aren't happening (Iraq) and away from places where things *are* happening. How much has North Korea been in the news outside of this weekend? Almost zero.
Dave V has some questions for us to ponder:
1. Were you surprised that Japan and China joined together in their condemnation of N. Korea's planned test? What will they do now that a test has occurred?
2. Does this hurt or help the GOP? Isn't it freaking obvious that Bush's misadventure in Iraq and his squandering of goodwill toward U.S.-led diplomacy has allowed this situation to get out of control?
From the AP: (at least they know how not to kill themselves
According to KCNA, there was no radioactive leakage from the site.
Update: As calipygian has pointed out, there is no indication yet on the USGS Earthquakes page of an "earthquake" being detected in North Korea (and a nuke test should register as one). Silence notes that, if this test just happened, it may take a while for sensors to register it since there are no known detectors in North Korea. However, it shouldn't take long for such a test to register in Japan
Update: CNN Now says that North Korea is publicly saying they tested a nuclear device
Update: More on the seizmic stuff:
The director of South Korea's monitoring center that is watching for a test with sound and seismic detectors declined to immediately comment on the report. The U.S. Geological Survey said it had detected no seismic activity in North Korea, although it was not clear whether a blast would be strong enough for its sensors.
- from the MSNBC article linked to above.
Just to add, if UTC is the same as Greenwich time, it appears the USGS website earthquake tracking page hasn't been updated in over an hour (so it hasn't been updated, according to their time stamp, since this diary went up)
Update:calipygian reminds us that a "nuclear device" doesn't necessarily equal "nuclear weapon"
Update [2006-10-8 23:23:40 by FleetAdmiralJ]: We now have specifics:
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, citing defense officials.
Update [2006-10-8 23:30:11 by FleetAdmiralJ]: More:
It said South Korea's Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources had detected a tremor of a magnitude 3.58 to 3.7 at 0135 GMT
By my calculations from the last two updates, someone's clock is off by about an hour, but the test appears to have now been confirmed from seismic activity.
Update [2006-10-8 23:35:55 by FleetAdmiralJ]: For those looking for less of a hodgepodge of updates, Meteor Blades has posted a front page diary on this now.
Update [2006-10-8 23:36:57 by FleetAdmiralJ]: From Arken:
CNN just announced that DC is now confirming that there was a successful test and they do have seismic and "other intelligence" data.
Update [2006-10-8 23:58:16 by FleetAdmiralJ]: Now from MSNBC.com:
Kyodo News agency reported that the Japanese government has set up a taskforce in response to reports of the test.
Update [2006-10-9 0:1:59 by FleetAdmiralJ]: silence adds this from the other thread:
If this was an attempted nuclear weapons test, the reported earthquake magnitude suggests that if the nuclear weapon was tested underground, the weapon may not have properly detonated.
We're hearing reports of a magnitude 3.x earthquake:
However, South Korean intelligence officials said a seismic wave of magnitude-3.58 had been detected in North Hamkyung province, according to Yonhap.
A typical nuclear weapons test generates a magnitude 5 earthquake:
The magnitude of the event was mb = 5.2, which translates to an explosive yield of approximately 10 kilotons.
A 1-kiloton weapon would generate something like a magnitude 4 earthquake:
The often quoted rule of thumb that a 1 kt TNT explosion is roughly equivalent to a magnitude 4 earthquake
I really have to wonder if the North Korean weapon somehow failed to detonate properly.
Update [2006-10-9 0:12:8 by FleetAdmiralJ]: From Americablog:
CNN reports that the North Korean bomb probably weighs ten tons. And they have no way of delivering the bomb anywhere - their recent missile test was a flop, and at ten tons, it's not like they're going to drive it anywhere.
Update [2006-10-9 0:29:48 by FleetAdmiralJ]: China says it "resolutely opposes" the test.
Update [2006-10-9 0:35:51 by FleetAdmiralJ]: Seismic information appears to be online. Also, this is where it was tested. Google Earth
Update [2006-10-9 0:51:31 by FleetAdmiralJ]: Americablog has more
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