I say claims because while the US Geologic Survey did detect a 4.2 magnitude quake in the area where North Korea claims it conducted the test there is no real confirmation.
Kim Jong Il has proven himself capable of massive deception before, so it's very possible that they just packed an old railroad tunnel with 150,000 pounds of TNT and bodies of the workers who unloaded the explosives set it off and said, "Waa Laa, we just detonated a nuke". That said I think they really did detonate a nuclear bomb, I was just pointing out a possibility.
(actually according to the LA times it would have only had to have been 550 tons of explosive but my number was more impressive)
World opinion so far has been negative with China calling the actions "brazen and flagrant violations of world opinion", Japan deciding to renew debate on whether it will build Nuclear Weapons, and South Korea suspending aid shipments.
Before the test US negotiators were trying to tighten sanctions, cutting off supplies such as Oil and Gas from China and Russia, without much success. It remains to be seen whether those sanctions will be applied now. I believe the UN Security Council is meeting today to discuss the matter.
This is back in the realm of my own personal opinion, but even though Kim Jong Il is a nutso (witness the crossing of the DMZ by some North Korean troops this weekend), the real danger isn't that he will attempt to bomb South Korea or Japan. It's that he will sell of the technology. North Korea already has a proliferation history with a number of shipments of missiles and missile technology being intercepted en route to countries such as Yemen, Iran and Libya over the years.
As I am typing this I am also skimming the news, it appears some people agree with me:
For years, some diplomats assumed that the North was using that ambiguity to trade away its nuclear capability, for recognition, security guarantees, aid and trade with the West. But in the end, the country’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, who inherited the mantle of leadership from his father, still called the “Great Leader,” appears to have concluded that the surest way of getting what he seeks is to demonstrate that he has the capability to strike back if attacked.
Assessing the nature of that ability is difficult. If the test occurred as the North claimed, it is unclear whether it was an actual bomb or a more primitive device. Some experts cautioned that it could try to fake an explosion, setting off conventional explosives; the only way to know for sure will be if American “sniffer” planes, patrolling the North Korean coast, pick up evidence of nuclear byproducts in the air.
Even then, it is not clear that the North could fabricate that bomb into a weapon that could fit atop its missiles, one of the country’s few significant exports.
But the big fear about North Korea, American officials have long said, has less to do with its ability to lash out than it does with its proclivity to proliferate. The country has sold its missiles and other weapons to Iran, Syria and Pakistan; at various moments in the six-party talks that have gone on for the past few years, North Korean representatives have threatened to sell nuclear weapons. But in a statement issued last week, announcing that it intends to set off a test, the country said it would not sell its nuclear products.
In my opinion this also has the potential of again altering the US political landscape.
This test occurring 4 weeks before an election in which the GOP leadership is trying to focus on national security is a dream come true for the Republicans. Especially given the Democratic party's history of trying to gut Missile Defense and the Clinton Administration's role in allowing the North Korean's to obtain the technology to build the weapons.
In essence it gives the GOP the opportunity to shift debate away from the Foley scandal.
(I am actually looking for the first ad that says "Hey we may rape your babies, but we won't let the dirty commies incinerate them in a nuclear fireball)
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