Posted on 05/24/2009 7:19:11 PM PDT by Strategerist
Edited on 05/24/2009 8:56:48 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
UPDATE:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jntKjLG2Y9N0a8MuIY8O__cOnWbQ
“NKorea confirms ‘powerful’ nuclear test”
1 hour ago
SNIPPET: “SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea said it staged a “successful” underground nuclear weapons test which was more powerful than its previous test of an atomic bomb almost three years ago.
The North “successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defence in every way as requested by its scientists and technicians,” the Korean Central News Agency said.
“The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control,” it said.
The results resolved “scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology.””
Earthquake Details Magnitude 4.7 Date-Time Monday, May 25, 2009 at 00:54:44 UTC Monday, May 25, 2009 at 09:54:44 AM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 41.285°N, 129.004°E Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Region NORTH KOREA Distances 70 km (45 miles) NNW of Kimchaek, North Korea 100 km (60 miles) SW of Chongjin, North Korea 185 km (115 miles) SSW of Yanji, Jilin, China 375 km (230 miles) NE of PYONGYANG, North Korea
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.5 km (4.0 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters NST= 51, Nph= 51, Dmin=469.6 km, Rmss=0.71 sec, Gp= 72°, M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=7 Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID us2009hbaf
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
QUOTE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258191/posts
Report: NKorea test-fires 2 more missiles
Yahoo News (AP) ^ | 5/26/2009 | HYUNG-JIN KIM
Posted on May 26, 2009 2:03:04 AM PDT by South40
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea launched tests Tuesday of two more short-range missiles a day after detonating a nuclear bomb underground, a news report said, pushing the regime’s confrontation with world powers further despite the threat of U.N. Security Council action.
Two missiles — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — with a range of about 80 miles (130 kilometers) were test-fired from an east coast launch pad, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed government official.
South Korean spy chief Won Sei-hoon had informed lawmakers earlier Tuesday that a missile test was likely, according to the office of Park Young-sun, a legislator who attended the closed-door briefing.
Yonhap reported that North Korea was preparing to launch a third missile from a west coast site, again citing an unnamed official.
North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a “clear violation” of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Thanks to 1-COUNTER-MORTAR-68 for the ping to this thread.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2258824/posts
BREAKING: N KOREA CALLS S KOREAN DECISION TO JOIN ANTI-PROLIFERATION PROGRAM A DECLARATION OF WAR
BNO NEWS ^ | MAY 26, 2009 | BNO NEWS
Posted on May 26, 2009 9:03:31 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin
ALSO:
# BULLETIN — NORTH KOREA ABANDONS KOREAN WAR ARMISTICE.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters
# BULLETIN — NORTH KOREA SAYS IT WILL “USE ITS MILITARY” TO RESPOND TO SOUTH KOREAN DECISION.9 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters
# BULLETIN — NORTH KOREA CALLS SOUTH KOREAN DECISION TO JOIN ANTI-PROLIFERATION PROGRAM A DECLARATION OF WAR.10 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters
NOTE: The following text is a quote:
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=102607
YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
Warden Message: North Korea Nuclear Test
CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS
East Asia / Pacific - Korea, North, Korea, South
26 May 2009
Printer Friendly Email Article
RELATED REPORTS
13 Apr 2009
SOUTH KOREA 2009 CRIME AND SAFETY REPORT
3 Apr 2009
WARDEN MESSAGE: U.S. EMBASSY TOKYO MESSAGE ON NORTH KOREAN MISSILE LAUNCH
3 Apr 2009
WARDEN MESSAGE: NORTH KOREA PREPARES FOR MISSILE LAUNCH
3 Apr 2009
WARDEN MESSAGE: U.S. EMBASSY TOKYO MESSAGE ON NORTH KOREAN MISSILE LAUNCH
3 Apr 2009
WARDEN MESSAGE: NORTH KOREA PREPARES FOR MISSILE LAUNCH
U.S. Embassy Seoul issued the following Warden Message on May 25:
On Monday, May 25, North Korea indicated that it had conducted an underground nuclear test that morning. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul is monitoring the situation closely and has been in continuous contact with South Korean government officials. The Embassy has received no information from South Korean officials or any other source indicating that there are health dangers that pose a risk to any areas in South Korea.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul continues to operate normally and to provide services to the public during regular business hours. In the event of any type of emergency, the Embassy will notify the American community immediately.
As a standing policy, the Embassy urges Americans residing anywhere overseas to always be prepared for the possibility of an emergency. Hundreds of expatriate Americans each year are forced by personal emergencies (for example, death or illness in the family) to return to the United States on short notice. Advice for emergency preparedness is available on the State Department’s website at http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1212.html.
If you did not receive this message directly via the U.S. Embassy’s warden email system, we encourage you to subscribe to our warden messages concerning travel and security, as well as the monthly Embassy newsletter, simply by providing us your email address via the Embassy’s website at http://www.asktheconsul.org.
Americans living or traveling in South Korea are also encouraged to register with the Embassy through the State Department’s travel registration website, https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/. Americans without internet access may register in person at the U.S. Embassy. Registration is a voluntary way of telling us that you, as an American citizen, are in Korea, whether for a long-term stay or for a short visit. In the event of an emergency, we use registration information to communicate with you. This could include a family emergency in which relatives in the United States request that the Embassy contact you.
For the latest security information worldwide, Americans should regularly monitor the State Department’s website at http://travel.state.gov where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, and Travel Alerts can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the Unites States, or, for callers from outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
QUOTE:
THE BRIEFING ROOM
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 26, 2009
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Republic of Korea’s Endorsement of the Proliferation Security Initiative
The President welcomes the Republic of Korea’s decision today to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). By endorsing the PSI Statement of Interdiction Principles, the ROK has joined 94 other countries in a global effort to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern. We look forward to working with the South Korean Government to stop the proliferation of WMD-related materials worldwide and to strengthening the Initiative for the future.
###
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258887/posts
N. Korea Threatens To Sieze Or Attack US/S. Korean Commercial Vessels in the Yellow Sea (Breaking)
Jiji Tsushin via Yahoo Japan (in Japanese) ^ | 27 April 2009 | AmericanInTokyo
Posted on May 27, 2009 1:23:59 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
Begin my translation:
From a dispatch in Seoul per Japanese JIJI wire services, North Korea’s Central News Agency [KCNA] on Wednesday, May 27th said that with South Korea’s threatened “total” participation in the PSI Initiative (which allows North Korean ships to be stopped and checked by various nations for nuclear weapons being exported) that it amounts to a “declaration of war against North Korea”.
The statement was released by the North Korean military representative in Panmunjom military armistace area. He iterated that from now on, South Korean and American vessels traveling in the Yellow Sea (West Sea, just off the West Coast of North Korea), cannot be guaranteed as safe. In the statement, the names of ROK President Lee and Obama of the USA were singled out, and said they are responsible for a “furthering a war situation on the Korean peninsula”. It threatened military action due to the decision by South Korea to participate full-fledged in the PSI initiative.
End translation (on web just now)
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=54510
Verifying North Korean Nuke Test Will Take Time, Official Says
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 26, 2009 – It will take time before U.S. and international officials can know with some certitude whether North Korea conducted an underground nuclear-device test yesterday, a senior Defense Department official said here today.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters that it’s too early to have definitive knowledge regarding yesterday’s purported North Korean underground nuclear test.
“I suspect that some of the details that you’re looking for that more tightly define the characteristics of the event will come out like they did a couple of years ago, but that takes some time,” Whitman said. “If you go back to 2006, I think the [Director of National Intelligence] did something after there was sufficient time to collect the necessary evidence to be able to make a definitive statement.”
North Korea’s nuclear device and ballistic-missile activities “pose a great threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action,” President Barack Obama told reporters yesterday at the White House.
The United States and international organizations are working together to construct an assessment of North Korea’s most-recent purported nuclear test, Whitman said.
It’s believed that North Korea carried out its first underground nuclear test in October 2006. North Korea also has conducted several missile and rocket tests over the past decade; the most-recent was a long-range rocket shot conducted in April.
Whitman didn’t comment on news reports saying North Korea conducted short-range missile tests today.
North Korea has conducted several missile tests over the past decade. In a highly publicized incident, North Korea fired a missile that passed over Japan in August 1998.
Related Articles:
President, Top U.S. Military Officer Denounce North Korean Nuclear Test
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2259192/posts
N. Korea threatens to attack US, S. Korea warships
AP Yahoo News ^ | 5/27/09 | HYUNG-JIN KIM
Posted on May 27, 2009 10:57:09 AM PDT by faced
facefwd.com N. Korea threatens to attack US, S. Korea warships By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 15 mins ago SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Koreas’ disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days “It is a laughable delusion for the United States to think that it can get us to kneel with sanctions,” it said in an editorial. “We’ve been living under U.S. sanctions for decades, but have firmly safeguarded our ideology and system while moving our achievements forward. The U.S. sanctions policy toward North Korea is like striking a rock with a rotten egg.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=54530
Clinton Condemns ‘Provocative’ North Korean Activities, Rhetoric
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 27, 2009 – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today reiterated U.S. commitment to South Korea’s and Japan’s security in light of what she called North Korea’s “provocative and belligerent” activities and rhetoric.
“The United States has and intends always to honor … the defense of South Korea and Japan,” she said. “That is part of our alliance obligation, which we take very seriously.”
While not discussing details of North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests conducted this week in violation of a United Nations resolution, Clinton noted that the international community is coming together to condemn them.
“North Korea has made a choice,” she said. “It has chosen to violate the specific language of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718. It has ignored the international community. It has abrogated the obligations it entered into through the Six-Party Talks. And it continues to act in a provocative and belligerent manner toward its neighbors.
“There are consequences to such actions,” Clinton said, noting that the U.N. is weighing possible options.
“I’m very pleased that we have a unified international community, including China and Russia, in setting forth a very specific condemnation of North Korea and then working with us for a firm resolution going forward,” she said.
Whatever response is adopted, Clinton said, it will be imposed “with the intent to try to rein in the North Koreans and get them back into a framework where they are once again fulfilling their obligations and moving toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”
The secretary of state reiterated hope that North Korea will return to the stalled process aimed at a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Working with North Korea toward denuclearization, “will benefit, we believe, the people of North Korea, the region and the world,” she said.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted that North Korea’s actions are further isolating it from the international community. Gibbs did not specifically discuss North Korea’s reported threats against South Korean ships supporting the Proliferation Security Initiative, or North Korean allegations that in joining the PSI, South Korea had nullified the armistice agreement that’s been in effect since 1953. South Korea yesterday joined the 90 countries working together through the PSI to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
“We are certainly concerned and take any threat seriously,” Gibbs told White House reporters today. “But my sense is that they are trying to get renewed attention through saber-rattling and blustering and threats.”
These threats won’t get North Korea the attention it wants, he said. “Their actions are continuing to further deepen their own isolation from the international community and from the rights and obligations that they themselves have agreed to live up to.”
Based on what he acknowledged to be a “rough count,” Gibbs called the latest threat “the fifth time in 15 years that they have sought to nullify the armistice governing the Korean war.”
Biographies:
Hillary Rodham Clinton
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/dprk/2009/dprk-090528-voa01.htm
“US, South Korea Military Raise Defense Alert Level After North’s Threats”
By Kurt Achin
Seoul
28 May 2009
SNIPPET: “South Korea and the United States have raised their defense alert levels on the Korean peninsula, a day after the North said it was willing to discard the 56-year-old armistice that paused the Korean War. Analysts expect more tension in the days ahead.
South Korea and the United States boosted defense alert conditions to the second highest in a five-level structure, Thursday.
Won Tae-jae, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, says the two militaries are devoting more personnel to intelligence gathering and analysis, including aviation and reconnaissance. He says South Korea and the United States will cooperate in keeping a watch over North Korea’s movements.”
SNIPPET: “In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told lawmakers Thursday his government is urging the United States to return North Korea to a State Department list of nations accused of sponsoring terrorism. Washington took the North off that list as part of multinational diplomacy to end its nuclear weapons. North Korea withdrew from the talks earlier this month.”
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=54546
U.S. Continues to Monitor North Korean Situation, Official Says
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 28, 2009 – The United States government — including the Pentagon — is “very closely” monitoring the situation regarding North Korea’s recent nuclear device and missile tests, a senior Defense Department official said here today.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is employing diplomacy and international pressure through the United Nations to persuade North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons program.
Obama “has made clear the path in which the United States is going to take to try to resolve these issues,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.
“The record is clear: North Korea has previously committed to abandoning its nuclear program,” Obama told reporters at a May 25 White House news conference, following reports that North Korea had conducted an underground nuclear-device test earlier that day. North Korea, Obama told reporters, “has chosen” to ignore its commitment to jettison its nuclear weapons program.
As a result of North Korea reneging on its pledge, Obama continued, it will face stronger international efforts to persuade it to comply with U.N. resolutions.
It is believed that North Korea carried out its first underground nuclear test in October 2006.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday condemned North Korea’s May 25 underground test of a nuclear device, as well as its recent missile tests. The United States, she said, is working with the United Nations to convince North Korea to adhere to its pledge not to develop nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, to include ballistic missiles.
Whitman said more-definitive knowledge whether North Korea had, indeed, conducted a nuclear-device test on May 25 could become available during the next several days.
Related Articles:
Clinton Condemns ‘Provocative’ North Korean Activities, Rhetoric
Verifying North Korean Nuke Test Will Take Time, Official Says
Ping to post no. 152 here:
Note: The following news brief is a quote:
HTTP://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2009/05/28/0401000000AEN20090528007700320.HTML
NorthKorea
2009/05/28 21:33 KST
N. Korean leader inspects chemical complex
SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inspected a chemical complex and called for the early completion of a gasification project to increase fertilizer production, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday.
The KCNA did not say when Kim made the visit to Namhung Youth Chemical Complex in the city of Anju in the North’s South Pyongan Province.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2260149/posts
7 key U.N. members fail to reach accord on N. Korea resolution+
AP via Breitbart ^ | May 28, 2009 | N/a
Posted on May 28, 2009 4:10:27 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Edited on May 28, 2009 4:25:50 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Seven key U.N. members failed Thursday to reach a final accord on a resolution the Security Council plans to adopt in response to North Korea’s second nuclear test.
Ambassadors of the five permanent council members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — plus Japan and South Korea failed to iron out their differences during their third round of talks, which they held based on a draft paper Tokyo and Washington have outlined, U.N. diplomatic sources said.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Thank you.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2259790/posts?page=16#16
To: TigerLikesRooster
Well, this story is off the mark. This was not a Hiroshima type nuke, which was a gun-type uranium, the Little Boy. This was a plutonium implosion-type bomb, like Nagasaki. Why did the writer pick a geologist as their “expert” on nukes?
The yield was very small, about 20% of Nagasaki. It is now suspected that was intentional and in fact planned. They are simply trying to make a nuke small enough for transport by missile and don’t care if the yield is low because of portability measures.
A 4 kilo yield air burst at 800 feet would flatten any downtown core.
16 posted on May 28, 2009 6:57:18 AM PDT by gandalftb (An appeaser feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last......)
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2259790/posts
N. Korean nuclear blast probably less powerful than hoped for: Yale scholar
Yonhap News ^ | 05/28/09 | Sam Kim
Posted on May 28, 2009 6:44:23 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
“N. Korean nuclear blast probably less powerful than hoped for: Yale scholar”
By Sam Kim
SEOUL
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2260236/posts
Iranian Embassy Officials Visit Different Places of Pyongyang
Korean Central News Agency ^ | May 28, 2009
Posted on May 28, 2009 6:22:50 PM PDT by nuconvert
Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) — Ambassador Morteza Moradian and staff members of the Iranian embassy here Thursday visited the Pyongyang Embroidery Institute on the occasion of the week of DPRK-Iran friendship for commemorating the 20th anniversary of President Kim Il Sung’s meeting with Seyed Ali Khamenei, leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.
They looked round embroidery production rooms at the institute, being briefed on the fact that its employees have striven to develop the embroidery of Korea.
They also visited the Meari Shooting Gallery and went round several hobby group rooms at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace before enjoying a performance given by members of its art group.
NEW THREAD:
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2260399/posts
N. Korea fires short-range missile off east coast: source
Yonhap ^
Posted on May 29, 2009 3:49:15 AM PDT by maquiladora
2009/05/29 19:23 KST
(URGENT) N. Korea fires short-range missile off east coast: source
“UN nuclear test watchdog confirms North Korea blast was explosion”
Asia-Pacific News
May 29, 2009, 11:03 GMT
SNIPPET: “Vienna - The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) finally confirmed Friday in Vienna that North Korea’s announced atomic test was in fact an explosion, and not an earthquake.
Using data from 61 stations of its global seismic monitoring network, the United Nation’s nuclear test watchdog also narrowed down the epicentre of Monday’s blast to within an area of 500 square kilometres.
‘There is no doubt there is an explosion-like signal in what we detected,’ said Lassina Zerbo, who heads the CTBTO’s data centre.
It was the first such confirmation from the organization, after sources close to the CTBTO had made similar indications earlier in the week.”
Well, it is official now. It is impossible to hide a nuclear explosion of that magnitude. And 0bama just goes to the golf course. . . . .
Yep...and so much we left unsaid...Thanks for reading this Godzilla.
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