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from the Marvin-the-Martian-had-no-comment dept.
We had three Soylentils submit stories about North Korea's claims it had detonated a hydrogen bomb and reports of seismic activity.
North Korea has Conducted a Major Nuclear Test.
North Korea said on Sunday it detonated a hydrogen bomb, possibly triggering an artificial earthquake and prompting immediate condemnation from its neighbors -- despite the rogue regime calling the test a "perfect success." http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/03/quake-in-north-korea-may-have-been-nuclear-test.html
North Korea Claims Successful Hydrogen Bomb Test
North Korea claims to have successfully developed and tested a hydrogen bomb. Observers have detected tremors associated with a blast several times larger than previous underground nuclear bomb tests. North Korea also claimed to have developed a hydrogen bomb capable of being fitted on a missile:
North Korea carried out its most powerful nuclear test to date on Sunday, claiming to have developed an advanced hydrogen bomb that could sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The bomb used in the country's sixth-ever nuclear test sent tremors across the region that were 10 times more powerful than Pyongyang's previous test a year ago, Japanese officials said. While the type of bomb used and its size have not been independently verified, if true, the pariah state is a significant step closer to being able to fire a nuclear warhead to the US mainland, as it has repeatedly threatened it could if provoked.
[...] The device was more than eight times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, according to NORSAR, a Norway-based group that monitors nuclear tests. Based on the tremors that followed the test, NORSAR estimated it had an explosive yield of 120 kilotons. Hiroshima's had 15 kilotons. But South Korean officials gave a more modest estimation, saying that Sunday's bomb had a yield of 50 kilotons.
がんばれ! 你能行的!! 화이팅!!!
Also at BBC, Reuters, and NYT.
4.1 Magnitude Seismic Event in North Korea at a Low Depth
Earthquake News Today initially reported that a 5.1 magnitude event designated 2000aert had occurred near Sungjibaegam, North Korea at a depth of less than 1km at 03:30 UTC September 3.
Their updated report 2.5 hours later gave a magnitude of 4.1.
All reporting stations were in the USA.
NPR, formerly Nation Public Radio, subsequently reports
North Korea has claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb
The blast was picked up by seismic stations all over the world, and it was big.
[...]North Korea's previous nuclear tests have been in the tens of kilotons range. That corresponds roughly to a weapon the size of the ones used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. It's believed that the North's earlier tests were of nuclear weapons that use uranium or plutonium (or both) for their explosive yield.
This time, the North claims to have mastered a far more powerful hydrogen weapon. Some early estimates are putting this test in the hundreds of kiloton range.
[...]Modern nuclear weapons of the sort possessed by the U.S. and Russia are almost all thermonuclear in nature. It allows the weapons to pack a huge punch while fitting in a warhead small enough to be delivered by a missile.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @10:39AM (8 children)
Who holds the leash of this rabid pit bull? Whose front yard is this dangerous pet penned in?
I can't for a moment believe that China is so paranoid about peninsula unification or committed to regional hegemony that they would deliberately allow a dysfunctional nuclear-armed third-world ghetto ruled by madmen on their doorstep except by design. North Korea as it is serves their interests quite nicely.
It is not in China's interest to help disarm or reform North Korea. To expect such is unrealistic. China is not an uninterested bystander in this. China's public posture is window-dressing.
Bottom line: if the US goes to war with North Korea, it is going to war with China. Just like 1950. Only this time, everybody has nukes, not just the USA.
And Russia? Cynical and opportunistic as ever. They will remain aloof and eventually back the apparent winner. They have nothing to gain by getting involved, and Russia never acts on pure principal.
This is a no-win situation for the US. Either accept the status quo, with resultant loss of face and increased Chinese influence, or go to war. There will be no diplomatic resolution to the US's advantage. China will see to it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 04 2017, @12:19PM (4 children)
That's not my read. The chinese know that the time of using NK to mess with South Korea, Japan, and the US is nearly at an end. If the US comes in and erases NK because China could not control them, it will be a catastrophic loss of face for them. They will be looking at an East Asia where a newly resurgent US-led bloc will be pushing hard on them, with their dreams of repatriating Taiwan gone up in smoke. The CCP has staked a lot of their credibility on that. Not to mention that China has everything to lose in getting dragged into a war with america, because a war with america will also mean a war with europe and then who will china sell its cheap crap to? Papua new guinea?
Nah, i'm thinking it's china that has to put NK down, and soon. In so doing they also eliminate the refugee problem that will occur if the US has to do it.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @02:52PM (1 child)
You forget China is...Chinese. Saving face is everything, especially to the Party. To do anything that vaguely resembles acceding to US wishes is unthinkable.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 05 2017, @01:44AM
No, it would allow them to pivot to a global leadership position that they have craved, and that would allow them to present themselves as a credible alternative to america. It would be a reinvention of their national self-image, after having spent a century playing the victim card, but it's a direction they have already presaged with the olympics they hosted. They could pull it off. It would also make them seem muscular and no-nonsense, like a stern father spanking a wayward, willful child. That's perfectly fine within their mores.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 05 2017, @03:19AM (1 child)
What's this refugee problem? Tibet wasn't a refugee problem for China, why would NK be?
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(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 05 2017, @12:16PM
That's because China was invading Tibet. That would be the same case if they were invading North Korea. But i don't know why refugees would be a big problem if they weren't invading, because huge numbers of Koreans fled to Manchuria when the Japanese invaded also.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @12:39PM (2 children)
Actually, Korean unification might be in China's interest.
It could both both make a strong trading partner and eliminate the need/justification for a strong US military presence.
As a point for starting serious negotiation, what were the terms of the cease fire. Have these tests put NK in violation?
I would not have expected their first fusion test to be sized to fit on a missile.
Also, where did they get the technology for such a nicely sized H-bomb?
Did they buy the technology from somewhere?
NK published a picture of a (or maybe 'the'?) gadget.
Who's does it look like?
NK doesn't have a lot of resources, but they have some.
What was the cost of this program in terms of food and shelter for the population?
Perhaps a Radio free NK program could convince the population that a regime change is in order.
Maybe even a campaign dropping radios and flyers showing the shopping opportunities in SK.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Shimitar on Monday September 04 2017, @01:36PM
Reality within NK is seriously distorted. Well, much more than in the rest of the so called free world.
A public radio transmission would do no good. Well, most of the people (who can afford to) already has access to "free" tv and radio, since radio waves from Japan, SK and China do not respect the NK borders, and you only need a TV/radio set which is not limited to official frequencies. While difficult and illegal, these do exist over there. In fact, many people to criticize the government and usually end up in camps or are forces to flee the country. Unfortunately, the majority drinks the cool-aid and believe it. Simply because they are told so from their birth! How many people believed kings where actually God's sent back in the days? How many centuries took to overtake that in the western society?
More over, many NK are emigrated from Japan (it's a long story... but a well worth read, i have a couple of book on the subject back home, cant remember the titles) after the regime started under the promise to build a new and better country after the Korea war. They originally migrated from Korea to Japan, then where lured back with false promises and hopes. Some of them ended up into concentration camps, but most just blended in the system.
The biggest issue is with families broken between SK and NK. Of course a lot exist... And surprisingly, the NK part of the family often whish the SK part to join them... because of what can be called brainwash.
Actually, life in NK is getting better and more middle class is raising, thanks to tourism (yes, there is a LOT of tourism from China, thousands of chinese visit NK every year... It's only US, UK and a few other countries to be limited. Me, as an Italian, was even allowed the train route in from Dandong, China, which is forbidden to US/UK passport holders). This makes the regime stronger than it feels.
They really really believe than NK has won the Korea War agains the USA and the USA-puppets SK! I mean, like we believe Hitler was defeated... (of course he did, it's just an example).
Still, the lack of any technology make life almost hell. Like living in 10-story buildings with no existing elevators... Or having to commute for kilometers every day... on foot. Think of people regularly cycling on the fast lane of the freeway, or oax-pulled charts with car chassis. Or crowds filling up major city streets, just because there is not much traffic on the road.
The country is always a famine away from the next crisis, and it's China who keeps them up. And the western countries... Well, there are a LOT of western people working in Pyongyang, many more than you would guess. Why? Well, it's cheap labour. As a single example i remember out of my mind, a book written by an italian about his job to oversight and teach a firm full of graphics artists... much cheaper and very skilled than any other country. The committents where undisclosed western companies.
I simply do not believe what we see in all the media is true. May be they really managed to send out rocket (they have been triyng for at least 10 years now, and the internal "reality" is that they did many years ago already), but we will find in 10 years that they never had any HB for real, and maybe that the rockets where just purchased straight from China and never built by NK itself.
Coding is an art. No, java is not coding. Yes, i am biased, i know, sorry if this bothers you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @02:03PM
According to the U.S. propaganda outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty [rferl.org], North Korea announced in 2009 "that it no longer considers itself bound by the cease-fire agreement." The same source says that South Korea was never a party to the agreement.