N Korea carries out nuclear test

Atomic bomb ... a satellite image of the Yongbyon nuclear facility, located about 100km north of Pyongyang, where North Korea has carried out its planned nuclear test deep underground / Reuters

October 09, 2006 01:05pm

North Korea has carried out an underground nuclear test, the North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) said today.

"Our science research section has safely and successfully conducted an underground nuclear test on Oct. 9," it said.

It added that there was no leak or danger from the test.

US intelligence sources were unable to confirm the report, but South Korea's official Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed official as citing intelligence reports saying the test may have been conducted this morning.

South Korea's intelligence agency detected a 3.58-magnitude seismic tremor, a foreign ministry spokesman said today, following North Korea's announcement of the test.

A South Korean defence ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the report.

LinkHere

North Korea; another foreign policy meltdown

The current crisis with North Korea originated in Washington, but you wouldn’t know it by reading the papers. The media’s role is to demonize the ever-expanding list of U.S. enemies who choose not to be "liberated" by the avatars of iron-fisted capitalism. The root of the present crisis is Washington’s unwillingness to honor its prior agreements. It has nothing to do with whether Kim Jung Il is a nutcase or not. When America makes a deal with another country, there’s the expectation that they should follow through. It’s that simple. In 1994 Bill Clinton committed to the "Framework Agreement"; a deal which promised to provide food, fuel and 2 light-water reactors in exchange for North Korea’s abandoning its nuclear weapons programs. The North agreed to these terms but the United States has never honored its obligations. These facts are unchallenged by anyone familiar with the history of U.S.-North Korea relations, but they are scrupulously withheld from coverage in the media....

continua / continued