N. Korea: A Seismic Event Detected Yesterday Afternoon(2.3 in Richter Scale)

KBS ^ | 08/26/06 | Lee Ki-moon

[Dog]

The location is far away from Kilju where the suspected test site is. If they do the calibration test, would it make more sense to do it at the Kilju site?

Unless this is a secret site we didn't know existed.

[darth]

Wow, now that's breaking news even if its 30 years later! I wonder if the NKs tried to test a nuke and it fizzled?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #41

Hmm... if that is the case, Seoul is in real trouble, which is less than 60 miles away. Actually, Pyongyang is even closer to this place than Seoul.

[Ticonderoga34]

I was vaguely aware of the Soviet/Chinese border wars but I never heard about nukes being used. This is something I want to follow up on. Ping for a later read.

[usmcobra]

Perhaps it is a scam to look like nuke went off.

[Wilhelm Tell]

I knew Sino-Soviet relations went sour soon after Stalin died and things heated up and there were years of border clashes. That nukes were used is news to me. Do you think both sides used nukes or just one? I think the Soviets had more advanced technology and the Chinese didn't "officially" test a nuke until sometime in the 1970s. Who knows what unofficially happened.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[Wacka]

How about a surface mininng operation?
In the SF bay area, there is a mine that regularly has 1.5-2.0 tremors. it is next to the San Andreas fault and the map showing them always says "(posssible quarry explosion)"

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Things went very sour when Mao told Kruschev he was willing to trade half of China's population to win a nuclear war with the US. The Soviets realized they were dealing with a madman and promptly pulled out all the nuclear scientists who were helping the Chinese. Things really got ugly with the border skirmishes in the late 60's-early 70's, but this is the first time I've heard it suggested that nukes were used. If it's true, I'm not surprised that neither side wants to talk about it.

My guess, based on what happened to us in Korea, is that the Red Army in Siberia was facing more of an invasion than a minor skirmish, and fearing an overrun, the Kremlin authorized using tactical nukes. It's the same doctrine NATO planned for in Western Europe in the event of war with the Warsaw Pact.

[CPOSharky]

The trigger went off, but it didn't go nuclear?

[JimRed]

Nukes also have a distinct and easily identifiable P and S Wave pattern. It's how we know that China and the USSR popped at least one nuke off in their border wars back in the 70s.

Wouldn't we have had confirmation from satellite surveillance as well? Or were we only watching their known missile fields?

[Lazamataz]

Yesterday at 4:50 pm, there was a seismic event in N. Korea

[GSlob]

Nah. Richter 2 point something was several tons TNT equivalent when "Kursk" blew up - and there are no micro-nukes with that kind of yield. There are a few in subkiloton range, but that would be 100 times more powerful - i.e. Richter 4 point something.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Probably blowing up rock to make underground facilities.

[Bean Counter]

I'd also appreciate a *ping* on this if you do turn up any solid resources. I've heard vague rumors about this for years, and have never seen anything concrete.

Thanks!

[Spktyr]

Yes, we would have had satellite confirmation of an above ground detonation if there was a satellite in the area at the time.

The problem is that such records are still classified. The seismographs aren't.

[Spktyr]

Knowing something about Chinese and Soviet tactics of the era, I suspect that all the events were Soviet in origin.

However, I'd just be guessing at it, like anyone else.

FYI, China had the A-bomb by 1964 and the H-bomb by 1967: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/China/ChinaTesting.html

[Spktyr]

Not unless the conditions were exactly right, and at 30 years on in mountainous terrain erosion would have removed most traces.

However, if it did make a crater, it would leave a perfectly circular one. Feel free to look for some in Google Earth; I'd not thought of that.

[Riley]

The resultion in that part of the world is pretty low.

I can't speak to the veracity of the source, but here's a page by a guy who says that he was connected to PRC SF in the region at the time.
http://members.tripod.com/~CombatMachine/kemp05_e.htm

[WoofDog123]

"Feel free to look for some in Google Earth; I'd not thought of that."

any idea what size crater one would be looking for (i.e. 100m, 1km, 10km, etc) if there might be one? what area of the border were chinese troop concentrations/overruns possible?

in uninteresting areas google earth resolution will not handle stuff below a fairly large size as far as terrain features.