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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

North Korean TV appears to show early 'A-bomb photo' [bbc.com]

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 [youtu.be] 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.

Original Submission