North Korea just conducted another nuclear test

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

North Korea: Nuclear Test Conducted
May 25, 2009

North Korea claimed to have successfully conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25, Reuters reported. Initial reports from South Korea suggest the detonation registered 4.5 on the Richter scale, larger than North Korea's Oct. 2006 test, which registered 3.6. The test is reported to have occurred 10-15 miles from Kilju, in northeast North Korea, where the first test was conducted. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has called an emergency security meeting to discuss the test.

This came out about an hour ago.

[Razgovory]

Hell of a way to deal with moles.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

according to the news they've been launching short-range missiles too.

Dear Kim needs temper management.

[Habsburg]

Terrible Day. 

[FunkMonk]

Have we already lost North Korea? 
And on Memorial Day too.

[Monoriu]

Not the first time and won't be the last time. 

[jimmy olsen]

Awful news to wake up to on Memorial Day.

[Neil]

Awful news to wake up to on Memorial Day.

Yet another in a long line of failures from America.

Still, you have to give Kim credit, being able to build an atomic bomb with a country populated entirely by mental invalids.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

according to the news they've been launching short-range missiles too.

Dear Kim needs temper management.

The missiles appear to be warning shots to keep aerial surveliance assets from getting too close.

[The Brain]

[Habsburg]

These little firecrackers Bedhead is launching are adorable.  I must say, well played by Bedhead after his apparently successful nuclear test.  People are like, wetting their pants, omg he has missles too!!!!   

[Syt]

North Korea Threatens Armed Strike, End to Armistice

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea threatened military action in response to South Korea joining a program to seize weapons shipments, and said it's no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

South Korea's actions are tantamount to a "declaration of war," the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement today. "If the armistice agreement loses its validity, the Korean peninsula will revert to a state of war."

The threats are the strongest since North Korea tested a nuclear weapon on May 25th, drawing international condemnation and the prospect of increased sanctions against Kim Jong Il's reclusive regime. South Korea yesterday joined the U.S.-led initiative to locate and seize shipments of equipment and materials used to make weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea can't guarantee the safety of ships passing through its western waters near the maritime border with the South, the KCNA statement said. South Korea's benchmark Kospi stock index fell almost 2 percent, paring earlier gains.

Under the July 27, 1953, armistice that ended the Korean War, both sides agreed to "a complete cessation of all hostilities" and pledged to accept the demarcation line that has become the most-heavily mined demilitarized zone in the world.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak had resisted joining the anti-proliferation program until the nuclear test, even after North Korea fired a ballistic missile on April 5. His predecessor, Roh Moo Hyun, had said that joining the initiative would be too provocative.

"We will regard any intervention, searches or other minor hostile acts against our peaceful ships as an intolerable violation of our sovereign rights and will counter with an immediate and forceful military strike," KCNA said.

[citizen k]

Joining the anti-proliferation program is more provocative than testing nuclear weapons?

[Syt]

Joining the anti-proliferation program is more provocative than testing nuclear weapons?

Why, yes. Just ask Brain.

[HisMajestyBOB]

I'll print out that article and show it to my date in Seoul this Friday night.
Though I doubt that I'll need it.