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'Artificial' earthquake detected in North Korea may be nuclear test
- apaprocki 14y agoUSGS link: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000f5t0#summary http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000f5t0#...
- everettkhurst 14y agoI hope they blew themselves up.
- huragok 14y agoYes, death and suffering is what the world needs more of.
- Volpe 14y agoYour comment is an example of why this kind of propaganda works. People start hating another country they've (likely) never been to, and likely have no understanding of their motives.
- gfodor 14y agoHonestly if by some Dr. Strangelove-esque mishap the entire NK high command were vaporized by their own nuclear test it would be pretty great. I'm not sure if that's what the OP was saying though.
- ryanhuff 14y agoI assume that you know that the OPer has no personal linkage to, or understanding of, the Korean situation? Or did you make a convenient assumption?
- Volpe 14y agoYou'll note my use of the word "likely". Happy to be refuted.
- ryanhuff 14y ago"Likely" and unsubstantiated guess aren't the same thing.
- everettkhurst 14y agoResearch the modern North Korean gulag system. Read testimonies of people who escaped. I hope those murderous fucks blew themselves up.
- mikegioia 14y agoSo when they did this in 2006, the UN issued weapons sanctions against North Korea[1]. Then when they did it again in 2009, the UN issued more sanctions[2] that apparently NK considered an 'act of war'. From them, the world has intercepted a whopping 6 North Korean boats and 1 North Korean airplane. Aside from "issuing even more sanctions" what options are available to the UN? Good luck trying to send in a team of people to destroy the nuclear program, that will all but invite a warhead/attack. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1718 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1874 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council...
- mjn 14y agoFor decades that's been the problem. South Korea's population centers are too close to the North for an attack to be a reasonable risk: even decades-old artillery and unguided rockets can hit Seoul, launched from hundreds of dug-in sites. So things have been organized around trying to pressure North Korea in various ways, either via China, or directly, but without force being a seriously considered option.
- plaguuuuuu 14y agoYep. This is what happens when you expand too close to the enemy's base..
- rtpg 14y agoI think this is more due to the fact that Seoul just happened to be next to the arbitrary 55th parallel drawn after WWII.
- hammock 14y agoIs that a Starcraft reference?
- arasmussen 14y agoBetter throw up a few extra photon cannons just in case.
- Volpe 14y agoWhy is it wrong that NK do Nuclear testing? I agree NK has some human rights issues, that should be addressed, but testing nuclear weapons is no different to Pakistan or India, and there are no sanctions against them.
- mikegioia 14y agoIt's the manner with which they're conducting the tests. Do you think nuclear testing should be done in private by an authoritarian regime, or do you think it should be done with the acceptance and supervision of the world's scientists?
- Volpe 14y agoErm... you mean like Pakistan did?
- defrost 14y agoIn their last round of tests neither Pakistan nor India performed them "with the acceptance and supervision of the world's scientists". US intelligence was completely wrongfooted at the time of India's five Pokhran-II tests.
- kamaal 14y ago>>or do you think it should be done with the acceptance and supervision of the world's scientists? Firstly, no self respecting nation is ever going to wait for 'acceptance' and 'supervision' of some other nation. In fact that very thing implies some sort of master-slave relationship. Countries act in their own interests(just like every other country).
- nemonemo 14y agoNK is aiming the weapon at US and its allies, unlike India or Pakistan who aim at each other. B.R. Myer's talk explains the motive behind NK's nuclear program pretty well. http://www.booktv.org/Watch/11315/The+Cleanest+Race+How+North+Koreans+See+Themselves+And+Why+It+Matters.aspx http://www.booktv.org/Watch/11315/The+Cleanest+Race+How+Nort...
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoMy father-in-law was a VP in Northrop Grumman's space and satellite division. The kinds of projects he worked on were space defense satellites. When he looked at all the uncertainty in the world (much caused at least indirectly by the US), his biggest fear was and continues to be North Korea. Given the types of people I know he met with, this test does not fill me with warm fuzzies.
- rooshdi 14y agoI wonder if the U.S. would react any differently if Iran had conducted these same tests.
- yk 14y agoNo, thats the entire point about obtaining nuclear weapons.
- rooshdi 14y agoInteresting logic. The government is willing to go to war to obstruct Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, yet not when North Korea is actually testing and threatening to "target" the U.S.: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/world/asia/north-korea-vows-nuclear-test-as-threats-intensify.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/world/asia/north-korea-vow...
- druiid 14y agoIt's mostly because we're in a bit of a bind as far as NK is concerned. As long as China supports/props them up we can't realistically 'attack' NK. Once China drops support for them you can bet that the regime will fall quickly, and/or China will smack them down before we even get the chance.
- dba7dba 14y agoIf Paris/London/Berlin were somehow within 30 miles of Iran's border, nobody would think about going to war with Iran so easily. If any major city of western allies was a few dozen miles from Iraq, nobody would've gone to war with Iraq. Yes, S Korea's not very lucky in the geography department. Actually the whole Korean peninsula.
- guimarin 14y agoThis is sensationalist news at its finest. There is only one way to confirm that a nuclear bomb test has occurred and it is not by measuring 'resulting' earthquakes. Until either the US Gov't or the very top at the IAEA states there was a successful test, this is nothing but linkbait. Frankly, given the tensions right now between the North and South, and that it seems the North, with the Passing of Kim Jung Il, might be more willing to open up, I find this type of reporting and grandstanding for views really infuriating. /rant
- cjensen 14y agoAn earthquake 1000m below the surface on Nuclear Test Road (not a joke: type the coordinates into Google Maps) which occurs after a week of nuclear test threats and has a slightly larger magnitude than the last North Korean test is unlikely to be a coincidence.
- guimarin 14y agoI'm positive that North Korea wants the world to believe that they're testing nuclear weapons, because that is their only bargaining card, but that doesn't mean they made a successful test.
- cpleppert 14y agoThen what do you think caused the earthquake? They haven't been stockpiling tnt and faking a nuclear program at the same time.
- nikatwork 14y agoNK stated they would perform a nuke test on this date and location. Which do you think is more likely, a) the tremors are from a nuke test b) Kim Jong performed a mystical ancient Korean wardance that happened to summon an earthquake at the designated time and place?
- doktrin 14y agoIf North Korea could trigger earthquakes at will, I think that would be even bigger news than a nuclear test (not to mention being a plot worthy of a James Bond movie).
- AUmrysh 14y agoThis is sad. Nuclear proliferation can be a good thing (energy), but it can also be a bad thing (weapons). NK only does this to get attention from other nations and feel like they are on the same level as them. The end result is food aid to stop the nuclear development. What's really sad is the world produces enough food to feed the entire population of the world, but most of it gets thrown away. I'm willing to pay twice as much for my food if it means the rest of the world gets to eat too, but I fear most people just don't care. The good news, if you could call it that, is that China doesn't want American troops stationed on it's south border, so they will do what they can to keep NK in line.
- brownbat 14y agoMost informative piece on North Korean culture I've read recently was written by someone who worked in Pyongyang for a year as a "reviser" (giving a final read over their English translated press releases): http://www.aidanfc.net/a_year_in_pyongyang.html http://www.aidanfc.net/a_year_in_pyongyang.html "A Year in Pyongyang" is just fascinating. Really digs into the mechanics and psychology of a state run under a cult of personality. It's also completely free. The biggest takeaway: there are probably a shockingly high number of "true believers" there that would fight to the last man in any conflict.
- caf 14y agoStatement by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation: http://www.ctbto.org/press-centre/press-releases/2013/statement-by-ctbto-executive-secretary-tibor-toth-on-the-seismic-event-detected-in-north-korea-as-a-response-to-media-questions/ http://www.ctbto.org/press-centre/press-releases/2013/statem...
- zensavona 14y agoThese kinds of "you guys can't have nukes because they're bad, but we'll keep some on hand because we're responsible" disputes that the USA seems to love force me think "where are all the adults?"
- Pkeod 14y agoSome nations having nukes stops industrial scale war. There is no way to go to before there were nukes... it's necessary for enough of the power players to have control of them but not all of the players. The adults are the non-nationalist people who see the world as a global community. These people are rare in politics it seems.
- zensavona 14y agoRare indeed.
- untog 14y agoThis kind of thinking is disappointing. North Korea is a dictatorship that is irrational enough to starve it's citizens- if it has that little care for it's people, why wouldn't it launch some nukes? Is the US perfect? No. Is it a democratic, accountable country? Largely, yes. There is no perfect system of government, and people should stop pretending that everyone is on the same moral level.
- Volpe 14y agoThat's misrepresenting US to suit US propaganda. The US leveled two countries in order to assassinate someone in a third country. It wasn't held accountable at all. You are right, morally they are not on the same level, but not the way you think they aren't.
- mathieuh 14y agoNorth Korea is starving because the UN impose food sanctions every time NK do any thing which threatens UN imperialism.
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- dba7dba 14y agoMeanwhile the S Korean themselves could care less about N Korea's nuke tests. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/02/08/2013020800940.html http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/02/08/2013... Favorite part in the article ################################################ "Conservatives are miffed. "The so-called leaders of progressive groups vehemently oppose the use of nuclear energy and condemn domestic nuclear power plants citing environmental concerns, but they are silent when it comes to North Korean nuclear facilities,"
- ck2 14y agoThink of all those poor suffering people starving to death, eating bark off trees, just so the government can afford to do this. It's just sickening.
- kposehn 14y agoI think it should be pointed out here that the NK regime is not actually crazy, they simply are very skilled at acting in such a way to extract concessions and aid to keep the regime intact.
- thoughtcriminal 14y agoGod how I wish the North Korean regime would be wiped off the face of the planet.