Chinese scientists warn North Korea about disaster threat at nuclear test site

SCMP ^ | 27 October, 2017 | Stephen Chen

[TigerLikesRooster]

Chinese scientists warn North Korea about disaster threat at nuclear test site

Researchers brief Pyongyang delegation on Beijing’s concerns over facility close to their border

PUBLISHED : Friday, 27 October, 2017, 8:17pm

UPDATED : Saturday, 28 October, 2017, 10:25am

Chinese geologists have warned their North Korean counterparts of a potential catastrophic collapse of a North Korean underground nuclear test site on China’s doorstep.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geology and Geophysics briefed a North Korean delegation in Beijing late last month on the threat of an implosion at the mountainous Punggye-ri nuclear facility, about 80km from China’s border.

A day after North Korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb at the Punggye-ri facility on September 3, a senior Chinese nuclear scientist warned that future tests at the facility could blow the top off the mountain, causing a massive collapse. The scientist said radioactive waste could bleed from cracks or holes at the site and be blown across the border.

Two days after the briefing in Beijing, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho announced suddenly at the United Nations in New York that Pyongyang might consider detonating a “most powerful” hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

That prospect was underscored on Wednesday by another senior North Korean diplomat, Ri Yong-pil, who told US news service CNN that the foreign minister’s words “should be taken literally”.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Another reason China can no longer sit around and watch N. Korea casually provoking U.S.. However, it seems clear that China has allowed N. Korea to acquire or provided N. Korea with all materials and equipments to build productin facilities for nuke and missiles. At least somebody powerful in China thought that it is worth it despite all potential risks, and some others made good money from selling them to N. Koreans.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[bioqubit]

For China...

The money to be made on peace
is far greater than the money to be made on war

[libh8er]

China brought this upon themselves.

[Vince Ferrer]

I am guessing that this is less real science, more a face saving way to tell the North Koreans to shut down the nuclear testing.

[laplata]

That’s a good thought.

[Bullish]

They’re headed for disaster all right. Just a matter of time.

Tick Tock... Tick Tock...

[JimSEA]

No, they are “block caving” the mountain down on themselves. Similar to a mining method. Release of nasty radiation would seem to me to be a very real concern.

[Does so]

This announcement doesn’t hurt China at all. The Norks will just have to test their nukes over the Pacific Ocean.

[lavaroise]

More like an opporu ity for us to see real cracks between China and North Korea.

The Norks are living end times, not the Chinese. They will thus tend towards tribulation.

[AdmSmith]

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Lee Do-hoon, its representative for six-party nuclear talks, and his Chinese counterpart, Kong Xuanyou, will meet in Beijing on Tuesday.

The meeting will be the first since the two officials took office and is an extension of recent meetings between nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-southkorea-china/south-korea-china-nuclear-envoys-to-meet-in-beijing-south-korea-government-idUSKBN1CZ042

[AdmSmith]

Treatment of radiation exposure:

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/nk/2017/11/01/4807080000AKR20171101054400073.HTML