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13 September 2004 |
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - An explosion that shot a 2-mile-wide mushroom cloud into the sky was the planned demolition of a mountain for a hydroelectric
project, North Korea said Monday, and it invited a British diplomat to visit the site. Experts from the United States and elsewhere say they don't believe Thursday's blast near the Chinese border was a nuclear test. A Bush administration official said the United States has indications the North is trying to conduct a test. The explosion and concerns over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions set off a heated back-and-forth between the White House and Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry. North Korea denounced the speculation over a nuclear test as part of a ``preposterous smear campaign'' aimed at diverting world attention away from revelations about past South Korean nuclear activities, Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a U.S. official said it isn't clear what happened. While the official said there isn't any reason to believe it was a nuclear test, the official also couldn't confirm the North Koreans' explanation that it was linked to construction of a hydroelectric project. A U.S. defense official said officials have seen none of the telltale signs of a nuclear detonation - radiation, seismic disturbances and human casualties - an indication that the blast was likely conventional. The American military operates satellites and other sensors capable of distinguishing a nuclear detonation from a conventional explosion. A U.N. official said the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, which monitors nuclear activity, had not picked any signs that the explosion was a nuclear blast. The North's official news agency KCNA said ``blastings at construction sites of hydro-power stations in the north of Korea'' had taken place. North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun told the same to visiting British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Rammell said Paek told him the blast ``wasn't an accident, that it wasn't a nuclear explosion, that it was a deliberate detonation of a mountain as part of a hydroelectric project.'' Rammell said the North Koreans ``have nothing to fear and nothing to hide and should welcome the international community actually verifying the situation for themselves.'' North Korea told Britain's ambassador in Pyongyang, David Slinn, that he can visit the blast site as soon as Tuesday to verify its claims, the Press Association of Britain reported....
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13 September 2004 |
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3650702.stm |
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South Korean media has been full of speculation about the blast North Korea has given its first explanation for the huge blast last week which prompted speculation that it had
carried out a nuclear test. The country's foreign minister, Paek Nam-sun, said the blast was in fact the deliberate demolition of a mountain as part of a huge, hydro-electric His remarks came in response to a call for information by the visiting UK Foreign Office minister, Bill Rammell. North Korea had said nothing about the incident until now. After meeting with Mr Paek, Mr Rammell urged North Korea to allow a British diplomat to inspect the scene. Mr Rammell welcomed the fact that North Korea had provided an explanation. "But if they are going to be open and engage with the international community, what we really need is diplomats to be able to go to the area and confirm for themselves that that is the case," Mr Rammell said. The North Koreans have promised to consider the request, he said. 'Peculiar cloud' The United States and South Korea had already played down suggestions that the explosion in Yanggang Province, close to the Chinese border, was caused by a nuclear device. "There was no indication that was a nuclear event of any kind. Exactly what it was, we're not sure," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told ABC television on Sunday. The blast in Yanggang Province, close to the Chinese border, is said to have happened on Thursday as the Stalinist state celebrated its National Day. It created what officials in Seoul say was a peculiar-shaped cloud. The incident and the fears it has provoked around the world are another illustration of the enormous tension between the regime and the international community, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, in Pyongyang. North Korea is under international pressure to end all nuclear programmes and disarm. But so far it has offered only limited concessions during "six-party" international talks involving both Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan. It has not yet committed to attend a fourth round of the talks, which the Chinese, as hosts, wanted to start before the end of this month.
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