Sunday, September 12, 2004

Creepy News Update

So the explosion that happened in N. Korea has been addressed by several government officials and news outlets and honestly I am kind of peeved by the whole thing.

You have Colin Powell and another guy saying that the explosion and the mushroom cloud that followed was not a nuclear detonation but their ideas as to what is was seem to falter a tad; the same goes with the media outlets. Here have been the explanations for what happened in N. Korea that I have heard so far:

1) It is a forest fire. While forest fires are common in N. Korea, I have a hard time buying this explanation. There aren't many forest fires that leave craters and create big mushroom clouds.

2) Yes, it was an explosion but it was not nuclear. Ok, then what in the world was it? It is obvious that there was a large explosion and I am aware that mushroom clouds can be created by any kind of big explosion, not just a nuclear one, but the question still remains, what happened?

3) It was an accidental nuclear detonation. I can buy this explanation. Maybe a core detonated in transport or a small missle was accidentally activated. Mistakes happen and I think this is feasible.

4) It was a chemical explosion like the one that occurred in N. Korea several months ago. I also think this is a logical explanation. It is pretty obvious to me that if it happened once it could happen again.

5) I have also heard that it was a volcanic explosion but I am not sure I believe this one either. While it is possible that a dormant volcano erupted I just get the feeling that this isn't the reason for the explosion.

There are some facts that back up the possibility that the explosion was NOT a nuclear blast. The first being that with a nuclear detonation you get a "spike" when seismographs pick up the vibration from the detonation. There was no spiking from the explosion in N. Korea. Secondly, if it was an intention nuclear weapon test detonation don't you think the North Koreans would have released a press statement bragging about their latest accomplishment? Kim Jong Il likes to release these statements about missle tests and what not so why not a nuke, you've got me there.

I'll bet when all is said and done, it was either a chemical explosion or an accidental detonation of a low yield nuke. Both make sense and both would go to explain why North Korea would be embarrassed about reporting such incidents to the international community and especially the rest of Asia. Simply put, they do not want to lose face in the eyes of their peers. We shall see as the days pass I suppose. Unless any big news breaks on this, this will probably be the last I post on the topic.

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