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posted by mrpg on Thursday September 07 2017, @03:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the maybe-could-be-probably dept.

North Korea's nuclear test site at risk of imploding, Chinese scientist says

The single mountain under which North Korea most likely conducted its five most recent nuclear bomb tests, including the latest and most powerful on Sunday, could be at risk of collapsing, a Chinese scientist said.

By measuring and analyzing the shock waves caused by the blasts, and picked up by quake stations in China and neighboring countries, researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, said they were confident that they were all carried out from under the same mountain at the Punggye-ri test site.

[...] Another test might cause the whole mountain to cave in on itself, leaving only a hole from which radiation could escape and drift across the region, including China, he said. "We call it 'taking the roof off'. If the mountain collapses and the hole is exposed, it will let out many bad things."

[...] Based on the fact that North Korea has a limited land area and bearing in mind the sensitivity of its nuclear program, it most likely does not have too many suitable peaks to choose from. How long the mountain would continue to stand would also depend on where the North Koreans placed the bombs, Wang said. "If the bombs were planted at the bottom of vertically drilled tunnels, the explosion would do less damage," he said.


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  • (Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Thursday September 07 2017, @02:14PM

    by nobu_the_bard (6373) on Thursday September 07 2017, @02:14PM (#564564)

    Its actually at least partially internal propaganda. The current NK leader is struggling to stay in charge of the Party. NK hasn't done anything "significant" on world stage in awhile from the Party's perspective except a number of embarrassments.

    If he can't prove to his own people he is a leader by doing this kind of stuff, whether or not the outside world is impressed, he'll end up falling out favor with the rest of the leadership. And if that happens, it's basically a death sentence. You're kidding yourself if you think the Party in NK wouldn't announce a "tragic accident" and be ready with the next Great Leader the moment they thought it might be worth the trouble. The current leader knows this even better than we do...

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