North Korean TV appears to show early 'A-bomb photo'
North Korean TV footage of an arms and munitions industry conference appears to show the country's former leader Kim Jong-il inspecting one of the country's first ever atomic bombs.
A 30-minute bulletin showing the 12 December conference in the capital Pyongyang has North Korea watchers agog at the picture's appearance in the conference hall.
The photograph, never before seen in the West, is visible for only a few seconds as the camera sets the scene for the industry conference, attended by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, the son of the late Kim Jong-il. It hangs among others showing North Korea's "achievements" in arms production, alongside scale models of ballistic missiles.
Because of its fleeting appearance from a distance, experts are holding fire on a positive identification of the device as an atomic weapon. But the photograph has notable similarities to recent photographs of Kim Jong-un inspecting the country's first (claimed) hydrogen bomb.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @11:33AM (4 children)
I guess the question is if it is real or not, or are we talking about Sovjet style photographic manipulation to glorify the great leader? It's not like that isn't or wasn't a thing.
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Thursday December 14 2017, @02:50PM (1 child)
It could be a real photo of him with a mockup bomb. I don't see what the big deal about having a photo is. We know they have the potential to make them. It doesn't matter hugely if it gets photo ops. No publicity picture is going to give away that much useful information anyway besides perhaps a disappointing lack of themey paint.
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Friday December 15 2017, @12:26AM
If the mock-up is really close to what they are currently building, it means that their designs were pretty far along even way back then. If the mockup back then was next to something that barely resembles what today has - then you know that a lot of work has been done recently to bridge the gap in knowledge. This is an important piece of information as it tells you much about the current Kim. Whether this is all his work, or whether he's just taking credit for work done previously - and that also means if you wait another year or two - where will they be up to in development?
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday December 14 2017, @03:07PM (1 child)
The first photo of il looking at a globe is so blurry that it be a globe of the earth for all we know. Next we have a photo of un showing a bunch of missile stuff with some blurry posters followed by a news anchor lady. The most laughable photo is un next to what looks like a cylindrical Aluminum device sitting on flimsy wooden supports attached to another aluminum cylinder via a wire harness. This is their supposed H-bomb. There is nothing else in the room save for another cylinder which could have been the container the device or prop was transported in. It looks so devoid of parts and wiring that it has to be a prop. And the wooden stand with thin sheet metal brackets is a dead giveaway that this thing has very little mass indicating once again, that it's a prop. Calling it an atomic bomb is a real stretch. So much a stretch in fact that I question why such an article was written. I smell propaganda. One propaganda spinning another propaganda piece. I also think I smell war hawks.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Thursday December 14 2017, @06:19PM
> I smell propaganda.
It's for internal consumption regardless of authenticity.
For external propaganda, they rely on our seismographs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @02:47PM (3 children)
Is he looking at an A-bomb or an H-bomb? They're quite different (and one's way scarier).
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday December 14 2017, @03:08PM
Prop.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday December 14 2017, @03:28PM
A-bomb, most likely.
The presumed Kim Jong-il photo is more of a historic curiosity than anything.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @09:10PM
Either way, this won't end well, but end it must.
(Score: 3, Informative) by zeigerpuppy on Friday December 15 2017, @06:32AM
North Korea has made nuclear bombs, that is amply clear from their underground tests.
Why should it be a surprise to anyone that there's a photo of one?
Get over it people, they have joined the nuclear club which now requires the rest of the world to negotiate with them like adults. We may not like it but the sheer hypocrisy does get to me.