North Korea Appears to Be Preparing for Nuclear Test

ABC News ^ | 8/17/06 | JONATHAN KARL

[finnman69]

There is new evidence that North Korea may be preparing to for an underground test of nuclear bomb, U.S. officials tell ABC News.

"It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is real possibility," says a senior State Department official.

A senior military official tells ABC News that a U.S. intelligence agency has recently observed "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected North Korean test site.

The activity includes the unloading of large reels of cable outside an underground facility called Pungyee-yok in northeast North Korea. Cables can be used in nuclear testing to connect an underground test site to outside observation equipment. The intelligence was brought to the attention of the White House last week.

Even before this most recent intelligence, there has been growing concern within the U.S. government that North Korea is moving toward a nuclear test. North Korea is believed to have enough nuclear material to build as many as a dozen nuclear bombs, but it has never tested one. A successful test would remove any doubt that North Korea is a nuclear power.

"What does he have to lose?" asked one senior military official, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

[diamond6]

Does Iran have the delivery system to send this to American soil?

[rfp1234]

--The possible location of the nuclear site.Yomsogol N3903? E12639?. If you notice the site is in the mountains which would be a perfect site for detonating a underground nuclear bomb --


One of the sites is very close to a river! Quick, call the Sierra Club!

[PghBaldy]

Wow. I was thinking about NK today, and wondering when it would act up again. Very interesting timing. Considering tens of thousands just died in flooding there, this just might be what they need./sarc (somewhat)

[PghBaldy]

I think it's more the case that NK wants $$$ and attention. We have been exclusively focused on Lebanon/Israel. This seems to be a pattern of NK- when other countries get more attention for an extended period, they up the ante. I don't think it is necessarily proof of collusion as to timing. It is obvious there is collusion on missiles & nukes though.

[garbageseeker]

LOL. I think that if a Sierra Club members gets near sites they will be executed.

[RedCell]

Well said. We ARE so worried about being PC to the point of being in grave danger. We're probably already there but you know what I mean. To your point, if we had any guts (specifically goes for our current admin) we'd say "eff off if you don't like what we're doing 'cause we're doin' it anyway" and to our own countrymen from across the aisle "you're still pissing and moaning because you're FREE to be able to do so... jagoffs".

Isn't it wonderful that J. eFFin Kerry can sleep so well at night knowing that if he was prez none of this would be happening because we'd all be following his plan. /s

Oy... I need a drink.

[AmericanInTokyo]

i haven't the slightest idea about that... nobody offended on this end!

[F.J. Mitchell]

Let's hope it's so succesful that it turns South Korea into an Island.

[JasonC]

Iran has $100 billion a year in oil revenue, NK has nukes and missile tech but is starving. Do the math.

[AmericanInTokyo]

It seems to be more at these coordinates: 41.1308333 Lat 129.1636111 Long

That would be the village area of Pungyeyok, not too far up north from the Taepodong missile site in Hwadae County along the coast.

[AmericanInTokyo]

[AmericanInTokyo]

The most common phoneticization being:

P'yunggye-yok

[TheBattman]

how does the old saying go???

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission".....

[diamond6]

bttt

[jeffers]

You know my thoughts on this.

I doubt there is any coincidence in a North Korean nuclear test at the same time as Iran is scheduling military maneuvers.

However, this works for those parties in both the political and military arena. I doubt this is an accident either.

I believe those countries will play brinksmanship games right up to the edge, to see if they can achieve their objectives without crossing lines which amount to national suicide.

If the rest of the world blinks, primarily if we fail to impose UN sanctions on Iran's nuclear program, then political maneuver is all we will likely see.

If we impose sanctions, then those countries will understand they have little to lose and then will decide whether to go out fighting or quietly.

For this reason, I am not expecting any military offensive on August 22nd. The more logical time would be after the UNSC meetings begin at the end of August, with possible assymetric (terrorist) operations timed to slightly precede UN negotiations.

However, I won't rule anything out. Iran is led by religious figures who, in my opinion, are mentally unstable. Ditto NK, minus the religious angle. They could believe they can win militarily, on the basis of religious intervention, rather than rational battle calculus.

At that point, all bets are off.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Damned ominous that he has been unseen for so long!

jeffers...thanks for the ping!

Pinging some others....

[SunkenCiv]

They're preparing for a nuclear test.

And by a strange coincidence, the US is considering a short-term resumption of atmospheric testing of a sort, somewhere north of the 38th parallel...

[blam]

Nuclear War Starting In Ten Days?

[Loyolas Mattman]

The only thing I can't get my head around is why W was goofing around on a motorcycle yesterday up in York if nuclear war was in the offing this week. You'd like to think he'd have more important matters than politics on his mind if this is really for real. Also, there seems to be no outward signs of our increasing readiness here - not even heated rhetoric.

We're either going to get blindsided next week, or we're going to have a good laugh over an adult beverage about what a bunch of Chicken Littles we are...

[Marine_Uncle]

If NK finally achieves nuclear capability (the ability to construct a fully operational and somewhat reliable atomic weapon), they still are in the same boat they are now. They may find they then will get even less aid from any country.
As for Iran. Same goes. Russia and China cannot afford to allow their two proxies to step over some line of demarcation so to speak. Once they demonstrate they are a known threat from the nuclear viewpoint, then they (NK,Iran) are targets.
Russian and China have a strong desire to become world class economies, energy producers etc..
In order to achieve their goals they need Canada, USA, Europe to provide them with a lot of money, by way of trade.
The two proxies are literally third rate, rather poorly managed countries from a economical point, that continue to demonstrate, they cannot on their own get their way.
There are many different ways one can look at this.
Cuba during the sixtees can be used as a prime example. They had Russian ICBM pointed at the USA. Castro was hoping up and down just like NK and Iran is now.
Notice what became of Cuba. And in this case, we where in the nuclear age. So it is not like a whole new set of equations had to be generated to analyize how best to deal with the aggressor nation. Just some thoughts.