Cancel

gear Push settings

bars

homehome Home chatchat Notifications


South Korea claims North Korea is preparing for another nuclear test

The atmosphere is getting more and more packed with tension between the two Koreas, as satellite images revealed North Korea is digging a huge underground tunnel, in what appears to be preparation for a new nuclear test. Nuclear tests raise global concern North Korea performed two previous tests, both of which were significantly smaller than […]

Mihai Andrei
April 9, 2012 @ 3:29 am

share Share

The atmosphere is getting more and more packed with tension between the two Koreas, as satellite images revealed North Korea is digging a huge underground tunnel, in what appears to be preparation for a new nuclear test.

Nuclear tests raise global concern

North Korea performed two previous tests, both of which were significantly smaller than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, but they frightened people throughout the entire world – and world leaders as well, who claim that North Korea is too much of a loose cannon to be trusted with nuclear weapons, especially given their recent conflicts with South Korea.

The excavation at North Korea’s northeast Punggye-ri site, where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, is in its final stages, according to a report released by South Korean intelligence, shared with the Associated Press.

Observers fear a repeat of 2009, when massive international criticism was aimed at North Korea for a long-range rocket launch, forcing Pyongyang to walk away from nuclear disarmament negotiations, and just a few weeks later, to perform their second nuclear test, which was much more powerful than the first one.

“North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be another grave provocation,” said the report, which cited U.S. commercial satellite photos taken April 1. “North Korea is digging up a new underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in addition to its existing two underground tunnels, and it has been confirmed that the excavation works are in the final stages.”

Monitoring nuclear tests

You can’t really conduct a nuclear test and get away with it unnoticed; whenever such a test is performed, be it on the ground, underground or underwater, it creates a small earthquake which is recorded at seismic stations all over the world. There, seismologists can differentiate it from a regular earthquake, and furthermore, by comparison, they can estimate the size of the bomb which was launched. If such an event is detected, radiation monitors immediately step in and confirm this.

Now, North Korea is perhaps the most volatile country in the world, especially after the death of Kim Jong Il, and after the U.S., Japan, Britain and many more other countries urged them to stop the nuclear tests, which are in a direct violation of the U.N. resolutions, and North Korea’s promise to refrain from doing so, things can only get worse; one can only hope reason and peace will prevail, despite the odds, and people will understand that a nuclear war is the absolute last thing the world needs right now – ever.

Via AP

share Share

First Ice-Free Day in the Arctic Could Happen by 2027, Study Warns

Climate change is heating up faster than we thought.

Big oil and chemical companies teamed up to "end plastic waste". They produced 1,000 times more than they cleaned up

"The Alliance to End Plastic Waste promised a $1.5 billion solution to plastic pollution. Five years later, it’s cleaned up less plastic than its members produce in two days.

Cars Are Unwittingly Killing Millions of Bees Every Day, Scientists Reveal

Apart from pollution, pesticides, and deforestation, cars are also now found to be killing bees in large numbers.

Growing crops in the dark with "electro-agriculture" can revolutionize food production and free up over 90 percent of farmlands

In the future, photosynthesis could be replaced with electro-agriculture, a process that is four times more efficient and may do wonders for food security.

Could Spraying Diamonds into the Sky Be the Key to Cooling the Planet?

Nothing is more precious than our planet, and we must cool it fast. Scientists say this can be done by decorating the sky with diamonds.

Scientists bioengineer mussel-inspired bacteria that sticks to and break down plastic waste

The modified bacteria clings 400 times better to plastic than normal bacteria.

This Polish radio station fired all its journalists and replaced them with AI hosts -- and people are furious

"It is a dangerous precedent that hits us all," said fired journalists.

A timeline chart of SciFi predictions that eventually became true

I pride myself on being a science fiction buff. Asimov, Clark, Wells, Jules Verne — there’s a reason why we’ve all come to love these classics. What makes people so fond of science fiction, though? One may argue that it’s these novel’s uncanny ability to dwell the human mind and foresee things that are yet […]

This New Micronuclear Battery Could Last For Decades

Nuclear batteries offer a lifespan that lithium batteries can't match. But don't expect them powering consumer devices anytime soon.

North Korea wants you to look at its nuclear weapon facilities

North Korea has not one but two facilities for processing weapon-grade uranium.