North Korea melts a mountain ?

Further to the response of the N Koreans with regard to the explosion last Friday [10 Sep]
When a mushroom cloud TWO MILES in diameter was reported:

The first fears were that they [N Korea] had re-started their Atomic testing again......
However, it 'seems' that the N Koreans 'could' just be doing there bit to stir up the Americans....

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/da...0409130004.asp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/3648794.stm

On the radio today [Tuesday 14 Sep] They said that they had 'removed' a MOUNTAIN from a planned Hydro Electric development......

Anyone else heard / read anything ?
Is this the warm up to something REAL serious ?
Was it an accident ?
Was it an atomic test ?

In one of the pages I read, even Kerry was keeping to the REPUBLICAN line:

http://english.ohmynews.com/articlev...87331&rel_no=1

Maybe there is another 'conspiracy' brewing ?

I dont believe it was a nuclear test, geog-whatyoumecallits, can monitor the sesmic activity anywhere in the world and look at the reponse and determine what it is by comparing it to other events, thats how they knew what had happened on the kursk becuase they were able to view sesmic activity and determine what it was.

The americans would of been watching it also and if it was nuclear I think they would of declared publicly very quickly that it was a nuclear test, as this would of given them strong evidence to pressure the north koreans into dismantling any weapons program.

But saying that, if bush has ignored evidence that north korea was at this stage in its development and had failed to act then it will probably loose him the up and coming election. So they could be trying to bury it on purpose but then why havent other countrys said anything? south korea also say that it wasnt a nuclear test and geiger meter reading also report nothing,

Its not only nuclear stuff that creates mushroom clouds, but then I think its a bit of an overkill to create a mushroom cloud 2 miles in diameter to do something that should be a controlled explosion, I would of thought you'd see many smaller explosions than 1 massive one, I could be wrong here though.

I think the likelihood of this thing turning out to be an accident are high, look at the train thing in april?

im sceptical about the whole thing, i think if it was nuclear we would see the effects around the globe with the winds carrying particals, politcal borders dont stop the wind.

i2c

A nuclear bomb cannot be exploded on this planet without the US and NATO knowing about it. I don't care if you bury it or drop it in the ocean there are sensor nets tied into monitoring stations from legitimate scientific stations to one's operated and solely existing by the US military.

How long was it before puplic knowledge of Pakistan/India detonations?

I just wonder how much tnt you would need to blow up a mountain? A couple of kilo tons at least......... :)
It is true that any explosion that is big enought will create a mushroom cloud it doesnt have to be a nuclear weapon.

The reason that the pakistan/India detonations were public knowledge so quickly is that for one it was the USA screaming about the tests and for the other it was Russia screaming about the tests. :p

last night on the radio John Loftus, a former Justice Department prosecutor, stated that No Korea is in the process of building an underground city there to protect themselves from an atomic war

There are no mushroom clouds under the ocean, ask the French. :) Or in a cavern 1000 feet under the surface or a mountain or desert. Blasts are detected though and almost instantaneous, after some verification.

RoadClosed: As much as your right, Colin Powell himself said he didn't know if it was a nuclear bomb (I think, he was interviewed about it). He himself said the U.S didn't know exactly what it was, however what else will produce a cloud TWO MILES WIDE? Don't know.. And the fact that they are possibly building an underground city..?

It seem's as if they are basically getting ready for Bush to be re-elected and are thinking that they're time to come on this "axis of evil" bullshit is sooner than later. :D

How can they tell the difference between a nuke exploding and say a lot of other explosives? Does any one know? I am just curious.

Granted, many things can cause a mushroom cloud. (We used to burn magnesium engine cases in the desert [before it became illegal] and if you dump a cup of water on a burning magnesium engine case, it will create a mushroom cloud)

The US has a variety of sensors at its disposal:

Satellites:
these can 'see' the flash of the explosion, and they can measure its intensity, duration, size, location etc.

Seismic sensors:
Along with its allies, the US has a world wide chain of these sensors that will detect the vibration of any explosion, and by triangulating from several points, a position for the explosion can be determined.

Spy Planes:
These are an extension of the satellite option, along with the ability to get closer.

Signals Intel:
This is when the opposition HAS done, or is about to do something the US would like to keep an eye on. As the 'enemys' comms network fires up with all the chatter associated with a test, it is possible to 'read' the info via the leakage that is part of any network [radio works by this]
As an example:
If there is normally none to little network activity, then there is a sudden spurt, this can be read against other intel sources to infer things. This is on top of what will eventually be cracked and reported from the signal chatter.

Human Intel:
The oldest and possibly the best information is from the 'horses mouth' so to speak. Spies / agents are always trying to determine exactly WHAT is happening.
Also, there are those on the other side who sell what they know, for what they want.

Publicity:
India / Pakistan, who has the nuke's ?
Pakistan recently cooked off a nuke in a moutain. The mountain glowed red during the test.
All captured on CNN amongst others.

Air Checking:
If you think that there has been a nuclear event, you can test the air for fallout [particles of matter, 'coated' in radioactive material] Fallout is a signature of a nuclear event, and it's 'fingerprint' [composition of the fallout is unique to each device] will tell you almost exactly what happened.

When Chernobyl occoured, and the Soviets went all coy about it. Air tests showed that the fallout could only have come from a nuclear reactor in meltdown. Composition of the fallout included caesium 134, which is found in a reactor. The remaining products confirmed the reactor to be Soviet, putting this to the information from other sources - above.
Gave us the answers we needed BEFORE the Soviets had even admitted there was anything wrong.

There are sensors buried in long tubes imbedded into the crust of the earth in varying places across the globe. In addition there are floating sensors at key points under the surface of the ocean. To top that off there are more technologies and there are baselines of previous explosions versus natural anomolies to compare measurements. Guess what - some of these locations were closed by Clinton and Kerry in the 90s. So either intelligence in Korea is sketchy or they are initiating "private" talks with Korea that are not to be public at the moment.

//EDIT Foxy beat me. :p