Monday, October 09, 2006

Posted by Sickboy at 4:58 PM
The Significance of the “Dear Leader” Testing His Nuke
J. Peter Pham
October 9, 2006


The announcement from the official Korea Central News Agency was couched in the communist state’s usual blend of solipsistic discourse, hyperbole, and surrealism:

The field of scientific research in the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on October 9, Juche 95 [2006, the North Korean regime operates on its own calendar which dates 1915, the birth year of “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung as year 1] at a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great, prosperous, powerful socialist nation. It has been confirmed that there was no such danger from radioactive emission in the course of the nuclear test, as it was carried out under scientific consideration and careful calculation. The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology, 100 percent. It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA [Korean People’s Army] and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability. It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it.

Nonetheless, the message was clear: the exclusive club of the world’s declared nuclear powers had just been crashed by a dangerous and potentially highly unstable upstart

8 comments:

dad-e~O said...

very troubleing indeed.

10:22 PM CDT
Martin said...

I tend to cast a suspicious eye on anything called "news" coming from North Korea. Has it been confirmed that this was actually a nuclear blast. I know they caught seismic readings on this, but the same could be acheived by a big conventional bomb.
I'm just settling into work right now and have been asleep all day, so maybe there is some new information confirming this was indeed a nuke test independent of the PRK news.

12:41 AM CDT
Scott said...

Does it really matter? Bush said yesterday that the ``claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security.''

Hmm, yeah thanks!

Now that we are stuck between a rock and a hard place on the North Korea issue how long will it be before the great state of Iran has their deadly new toy? Am I the only one who believes our USA has made it self an impotent world power of its self by pursuing a war (Iraq) wanted only by a small fraction of the worlds citizens?

10:23 AM CDT
dad-e~O said...

oh yea, were screwed.

2:13 PM CDT
dad-e~O said...

and what was the line in the song.. somthing about no vasaline.

2:13 PM CDT
Mark M said...

What Mike M. said. The latest consensus on the seismic data is that the blast was probably too small to have been a nuclear explosion. I've heard theories that either N. Korea attempted to detonate a nuclear device and failed, or they are trying to deceive the world into thinking they have a working nuclear weapon.

Let me speculate upon yet another possibility, which might not have any more merit than the others, but I'll just throw it out there... In autocratic regimes such as N. Korea, failure to carry out the ruler's orders is often severely punished. Dismissal from one's job really means dismissal. It might be the case that the people in charge of N. Korea's nuclear weapons program, motivated by fear of punishment, have actually been trying to deceive their own government about the failure of their efforts.

9:15 PM CDT
Martin said...

The threat of the nuclear device is disruptive, without a doubt. Japan and South Korea have got to be shitting their pants. When it comes down to it though, I think we'll know soon whether this was the real deal, a failed attempt at a nuke, or a few dozen tons of explosives crammed in the bottom of a coal mine. We'll just have to see where it goes from there.
On the plus side NK has some folks that are usually allies giving them the stink eye. china called the test "brazen". not outright condemnation, but not bad for the Chinese. It may be an even harsher criticism than we take as it is coming from a pretty conformist culture.
We'll see if the UN has any teeth left when they decide how to deal with this crazy ass midget.

5:20 AM CDT
Martin said...

Oh yeah, I hope they didn't shake the magic sacred mountain too much.

6:16 AM CDT

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