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Full Title: North Korea is hit by 'artificial' 2.1-magnitude earthquake after 'mine explosion' amid claims Pyongyang is reviving a nuclear launch site An earthquake in a mining town in North Korea was caused by 'artificial activity', it has been claimed. The 2.1-magnitude tremor was reported in the town of Pyonggang near the border with South Korea around Thursday lunchtime. Meteorology experts in the South said the quake was likely to be caused by a mine explosion.

A third nuclear test has been widely anticipated since DecemberSign North Korea is advancing its nuclear technology, say expertsSuggests country is closer to mounting a bomb on a missile'Greater explosive force' than the 2006 and 2009 tests North Korea a 'serious threat' to U.S., says Defence Secretary Leon Panetta World leaders condemned North Korea’s defiant nuclear test yesterday amid fears the Communist pariah state is developing a weapon that could strike the US.Outgoing US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said North Korea represented a ‘serious threat’,  adding: ‘We’ve got to be prepared to deal with that.’Even close ally China was...

North Korea Vows Nuclear Test 'Aimed' at US by Steve Herman North Korea is amplifying its rhetoric about carrying out more rocket launches and a third nuclear test. North Korea's National Defense Commission says the reclusive state will conduct an “all-out confrontation battle” that will include further satellite and long-range launches, as well as what it calls a nuclear test of a “higher level.” It says these actions will be aimed at its sworn enemy, the United States.

/begin my excerpts N. Korea Might Have Tested Fusion Process Ju Yong-joong Two days after May 12 announcement, eight times the normal level of radioactive substance Xenon was detected Government kept it under wraps It has been revealed on June 20 that the northern most monitoring station under Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) detected eight times the normal level of radioactive substance Xenon right after N. Korea announced on May 12 that it had successful nuclear fusion process, key technology to make hydrogen bomb. It is raising the possibility that N. Korea actually conducted a small-scale nuclear test (required)...

Missiles may be an attempt to thwart detection May 28, 2009 North Korea has launched five short-range missiles since carrying out its underground nuclear test Monday and could be preparing to fire off another one soon, further heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula and across the region. The launches likely represent an attempt by Pyongyang to interfere with South Korean and U.S. efforts to detect the radioactive gases that a nuclear explosion emits, analysts said. Nuclear explosions create radioactive noble gases, such as xenon and krypton, that don’t combine with other geological elements, according to Harold P. Smith, a former...

The United States is "gravely concerned" by North Korea's claim that it had conducted a new underground nuclear test...

The United States said Monday that it was trying to determine the authenticity of North Korea's claim that it conducted a second nuclear test just hours earlier, according to Yonhap News. "We are aware of the reports of a nuclear test by North Korea," a State Department official said, requesting anonymity. "We are consulting with our allies. Once we have established the facts, we will have more to say. At this point, I do not have a timeline as to when there will be more to say." North Korea said it conducted an underground nuclear test Monday morning (Seoul time)...

The North Korean 'nuke test' causes a surge in business 'activity' in South Korea. A leading chain of convenience stores in South Korea reported a 25% rise in condom sales in the week after the test. Two weeks after sales were still up over 15%. Another national chain announced a ...

North Korea has informed China that it is prepared to conduct "as many as three additional tests" following the first nuclear experiment Oct. 9, CNN television reported Wednesday. Quoting U.S. intelligence analysts and officials, CNN and Fox News said U.S. spy satellites have detected activities which could be preparations for nuclear explosion tests at three North Korean sites. CNN also said that latest U.S. intelligence show that North Korea's missile sites remain at a "very high state of readiness," and Pyongyang could use them "in the next several days." On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the North Korean military has...

Some folks breathed a sigh of relief when the media announced no radiation had been detected following the North Korean nuclear tests. Others,including a very knowledgeable correspondent,were not that impressed with the announcement, and explained why. (You probably won't see this elsewhere !)

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (Kyodo) _ Preliminary evidence of radioactivity has been detected at North Korea's test site, CNN reported Friday, quoting a U.S. government source. NBC News, meanwhile, reported that an increase in radioactivity has been observed around areas where North Korea's nuclear test sites appear to be located as a result of a U.S. analysis of air over the areas. A further analysis is necessary to determine that a nuclear test has been performed there as claimed by North Korea, the CNN report said.

The U.S. government has determined that one scientific test, among many conducted since North Korea's announced nuclear test, was consistent with a nuclear explosion, a senior administration official said Friday night. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the administration has not made a definitive conclusion about the nature of the explosion. "The betting is that this was an attempt at a nuclear test that failed," the official said. "We don't think they were trying to fake a nuclear test, but it may have been a nuclear fizzle _ an effort that failed." The official spoke on...

The U.S. government has determined that one scientific test, among many conducted since North Korea's announced nuclear test, was consistent with a nuclear explosion, a senior administration official said Friday night. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the administration has not made a definitive conclusion about the nature of the explosion. "The betting is that this was an attempt at a nuclear test that failed," the official said. "We don't think they were trying to fake a nuclear test, but it may have been a nuclear fizzle _ an effort that failed." The official spoke on...

Pyongyang, October 11 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued the following statement Wednesday as regards the U.S. ill-boding moves in the wake of the nuclear test in the DPRK: As we have already declared the field of scientific research of the DPRK successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on Oct. 9 as a new measure for bolstering its war deterrent for self-defence. The DPRK's nuclear test was entirely attributable to the U.S. nuclear threat, sanctions and pressure. The DPRK has exerted every possible effort to settle the nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations,...

TOKYO - Saying the country was “in gravest danger,” Japan ordered a total ban on North Korean imports late Wednesday and declared that ships from the impoverished North were prohibited from entering Japanese ports as punishment for its apparent nuclear test. North Korean nationals are also prohibited from entering Japan with limited exceptions, the Cabinet Office said in a statement released after an emergency security meeting. Twenty-four North Korea-registered trade ships were moored at Japanese ports as of Wednesday afternoon, according to public broadcaster NHK. Local traders were already refusing to unload shipments to protest the alleged test, and the...

North Korea's explosive declaration that it has joined the ranks of nuclear-armed nations is the sort of shock wave that at first glance would seem to provide a boost to Republican candidates. One month before election day, with the GOP mired in a congressional sex scandal, the emergence of a new global threat and a renewed focus on national security seems to play right into a Republican strength with an issue that has secured their national majority the past two elections. "Let me put it this way,'' White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Tuesday from the briefing-room podium. "We're...

On October 9, 2006, Kim Jong Il apparently backed up his bluster and detonated a nuclear device in a test area northeast of the capitol of Pyongyang. So now, faced with a North Korea openly nuclear, what is the world – and more importantly, America - expected to do? Last week, when North Korea was pulling yet another threat from a seemingly bottomless basket, the world community immediately went into predictable reaction mode: running in ever-decreasing concentric circles around their desks while shrieking “the sky is falling.” The New York Times editorial page even pulled the much-maligned phrase “domino theory”...

Kim delays telling his people of nuclear test By Our Correspondent in Pyongyang and Adrian Blomfield (Filed: 10/10/2006) While the rest of the world was digesting claims that North Korea had tested a nuclear bomb, there was one corner of the globe that was left in the dark about the news: North Korea itself. It was not until 4pm local time that the Dear Leader, as Kim Jong-il likes to be known, deigned to let his people know of the momentous goings-on in their country. By then several hours had elapsed since the official Korean Central News Agency had informed...

China may have the most influence of any nation over Pyongyang, but North Korea's nuclear test illustrates the failure of Beijing's diplomatic approach, analysts say. China has been North Korea's main ally for more than half a century, a relationship cemented in blood when Chinese troops fought alongside North Koreans against US and South Korean soldiers in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. But critics charge that China's ideological ties to the bankrupt communist state have blinded it to the danger posed by Pyongyang's atomic weapons ambitions. "No country should be more embarrassed and more concerned than China," said...

GERTZ: U.S. doubts Korean test was nuclear; Readings fall short of atomic explosion... MORE... U.S. intelligence agencies say, based on preliminary indications, that North Korea did not produce its first nuclear blast yesterday, WASHINGTON TIMES star reporter Bill Gertz is set to report in Tuesday editions. U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that seismic readings show that the conventional high explosives used to create a chain reaction in a plutonium-based device went off, but that the blast's readings were shy of a typical nuclear detonation. 'There was a seismic event that registered about 4 on the Richter...