[roadcat]

For years, a story has been going around that Japan actually tested a nuclear device in what is now North Korea in August, 1945.

The attached article mentioned that. At the time, the Japanese concentrated all industrialization in North Korea, and South Korea was largely agrarian farmland. The Soviets grabbed factories and contents, and shipped them home, including the captured Japanese scientists.

[JohnBovenmyer]

IIRC the History Channel show also mentioned the alleged Japanese A-bomb test. The show mentioned that the Japanese Navy and Army, which certainly were competitors and poorly co-ordiated on many subjects during the war, had completely separate atomic programs. The oft cited evidence of there having been virtually no atomic program was from the US capture of one, but alleged test was from the other, which given the Korean location would have been captured by the Soviets. Without re-watching the show I don't recall which was which. However this should be testable, given the evidence such bombs leave behind. I don't know whether we've ever had access to the site (perhaps had some during the Korean war), but there probably would still be evidence there now. Another alleged atomic incident that should be testable is the claim (in Red Star Rogue) that renegade Soviets fired a sub lunched nuke at Hawaii from its far western islands in the late 60s, only to have it go off prematurely. RSR reads like a good Clancy story, but claims to be truth rather than fiction which would be very scary. Rather than begging release of fancied UFO files folks should be begging the release of any US files on both. Privately checking out the alleged Korean site probably isn't currently possible, but privately checking out the alleged Hawaiian launch site should be. Seventy, and nearly fifty, years in the past the principles can't be embarrassed by releasing the truth on either, but the public needs to know the truth on both.