Languish.org

QuoteNorth 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.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 25, 2009, 08:08:34 AM
Awful news to wake up to on Memorial Day. <_<

Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on May 25, 2009, 12:47:52 AM
according to the news they've been launching short-range missiles too.

Dear Kim needs temper management.

QuoteMay 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.

Quote from: citizen k on May 27, 2009, 01:12:45 AM
Joining the anti-proliferation program is more provocative than testing nuclear weapons?

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 04:01:59 AM
Say, bin laden buys a nuke from North Korea and deonates it in a US city.  What can the US do to prevent this?

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 04:01:59 AM
Say, bin laden buys a nuke from North Korea and deonates it in a US city.  What can the US do to prevent this?

Quote from: Cpl. Dwayne HicksNuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 04:08:00 AM
All the US will know is that somebody deonated a nuke on US soil.  Is there any way to find out where that nuke is from?  It can come from a variety of sources, e.g. Pakistan, Iran, even Russia.

Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2009, 05:12:32 AM
I wonder if they did it underground so it'd be hard for us to laugh at their teeny-tiny bomb this time.

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 05:26:30 AM

Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2009, 05:12:32 AM
I wonder if they did it underground so it'd be hard for us to laugh at their teeny-tiny bomb this time.

If they did it above ground I think China would have something to say about radiation poisoning - the site was very close to China.

Quote from: Tamas on May 27, 2009, 04:46:38 AM

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 04:08:00 AM
All the US will know is that somebody deonated a nuke on US soil.  Is there any way to find out where that nuke is from?  It can come from a variety of sources, e.g. Pakistan, Iran, even Russia.

AFAIK you can ID the mine the uranium was from.

Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2009, 05:12:32 AM
I wonder if they did it underground so it'd be hard for us to laugh at their teeny-tiny bomb this time.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 27, 2009, 08:46:40 AM

Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2009, 05:12:32 AM
I wonder if they did it underground so it'd be hard for us to laugh at their teeny-tiny bomb this time.

I read it was 10 times as powerful as their last one.

Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2009, 08:54:14 AM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 27, 2009, 08:46:40 AM

Quote from: Tyr on May 27, 2009, 05:12:32 AM
I wonder if they did it underground so it'd be hard for us to laugh at their teeny-tiny bomb this time.

I read it was 10 times as powerful as their last one.

So...nearly Hiroshima?

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 05:26:30 AM
If they did it above ground I think China would have something to say about radiation poisoning - the site was very close to China. 

Quote from: Tamas on May 27, 2009, 04:46:38 AM

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 04:08:00 AM
All the US will know is that somebody deonated a nuke on US soil.  Is there any way to find out where that nuke is from?  It can come from a variety of sources, e.g. Pakistan, Iran, even Russia.

AFAIK you can ID the mine the uranium was from.

Quote from: Maximus on May 27, 2009, 08:12:08 AM

Quote from: Tamas on May 27, 2009, 04:46:38 AM

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 04:08:00 AM
All the US will know is that somebody deonated a nuke on US soil.  Is there any way to find out where that nuke is from?  It can come from a variety of sources, e.g. Pakistan, Iran, even Russia.

AFAIK you can ID the mine the uranium was from.

Possibly the mine, pretty sure they can ID the reactor/enrichment facility. As long as they have a previous sample, of course

Quote from: Siege on May 27, 2009, 01:28:53 PM

Quote from: Tamas on May 27, 2009, 04:46:38 AM

Quote from: Monoriu on May 27, 2009, 04:08:00 AM
All the US will know is that somebody deonated a nuke on US soil.  Is there any way to find out where that nuke is from?  It can come from a variety of sources, e.g. Pakistan, Iran, even Russia.

AFAIK you can ID the mine the uranium was from.

That's a myth to make the civilians feel safer in the certainty that IDing the nuke will work as a deterrance.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 27, 2009, 02:01:43 PM:yeahright: And how would you know this?

Quote from: Maximus on May 27, 2009, 02:04:42 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 27, 2009, 02:01:43 PM:yeahright: And how would you know this?

:mad: Are you questioning the American infantryman's knowledge of nuclear weapon production methods?

Quote from: Maximus on May 27, 2009, 02:04:42 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 27, 2009, 02:01:43 PM:yeahright: And how would you know this?

:mad: Are you questioning the American infantryman's knowledge of nuclear weapon production methods?

Quote from: The Brain on May 27, 2009, 01:59:16 PM
The North Koreans use plutonium bombs, right?

Quote from: Syt on May 27, 2009, 12:28:13 AM
North Korea Threatens Armed Strike, End to Armistice (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aS17xp.yHokM&refer=home)

QuoteMay 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.

QuoteN. Korean nuclear threat growing, analysts say

Is secretive regime getting closer to being able to launch a warhead?

updated 2:30 p.m. ET, Wed., May 27, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's second underground nuclear test has shown the world that it's only a matter of time before the secretive regime develops the ability to mount an atomic weapon on a missile, analysts say.

Monday's blast — by all accounts larger than its first one in 2006 — indicates the impoverished country will keep using nuclear development in efforts to bolster its regime and raise its stature against its main perceived adversary, the United States. The test has also raised fears of increased proliferation.

North Korea's defiance in carrying out the explosion, which followed its first test in October 2006 that resulted in censure and sanctions by the United Nations, has met widespread condemnation and cast more doubt over prospects for stalled talks aimed at the country's denuclearization.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

President Barack Obama said the blast and North Korea's test firings of short-range missiles off its coast "pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world," while the North responded Tuesday by launching more missiles. And on Wednesday, the North warned South Korea that its decision to participate in a U.S.-led program to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction is equal to a declaration of war.

North Korea is believed to have processed enough plutonium over the years for at least a half dozen nuclear bombs.

That is paltry compared to the massive arsenals of nuclear powers such as the United States, Russia and China or even newer members of the atomic club like Pakistan.

Moving with determination
Still, North Korea is making measurable progress and showing its determination to posses a credible enough threat to protect its regime, and is unlikely to back down anytime soon given its increasingly strident tone on the world stage.

The North is now "more of a threat because they have more data and information about their bomb design," said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank devoted to conflict resolution. "They're demonstrating this decisiveness."

The size of the explosion is still under debate and will require more analysis to determine. Initial estimates have ranged from a few kilotons to a Russian figure of between 10 kilotons and 20 kilotons.

The latter range, considered way too high by analysts including Pinkston and David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, would be comparable to the U.S. weapons that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

Evidence suggests North Korea's ultimate goal is to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile, but analysts vary in their assessment of how close the country is to achieving that objective.

"It's a weapons program aimed at putting something on a missile to create a credible deterrent," Albright said. He said he thinks North Korea has the ability to mount a weapon now, though he added that questions remain about how reliable it would be.

'A matter of time'
Yoon Deok-min, a professor at South Korea's state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, said North Korea appears to still be in the process of mastering the miniaturization technology required to place a warhead on a missile, though he called its ultimate success just "a matter of time."

He said its development of a nuclear-tipped missile is the "worst case" security scenario, noting the country has already deployed intermediate-range ballistic missiles that can travel as far as 1,860 miles. That would easily put South Korea and Japan into range and almost reach the U.S. island of Guam.

What is disturbing, Yoon said, is that the country is conducting missile and nuclear tests in close proximity. Monday's blast came less than two months after the North fired an intermediate-range rocket over Japan and into the Pacific. Though North Korea claimed it launched a satellite, the U.S. and other countries said it was meant to test ballistic missile technology.

Proliferation fears
Still, other analysts do not think the North will quickly master the delivery of a nuclear warhead. Cha Du-hyeogn, a research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, estimates it may take about four years to accomplish.

Pinkston said if analysis of the blast ultimately reveals that it was at the lower end of the yield range given so far, perhaps as small as three kilotons, that might suggest "they are working on miniaturization."

Ivan Oerlich, vice president of the Strategic Security Program at the Federation of American Scientists, said early signs indicate the test was much larger than the one in 2006, though far smaller than the Russian estimate.

Proliferation fears have also increased as a result of the North's test, analysts said.

"The proliferation part of this is more worrisome than being hit by a North Korean nuclear weapon," Albright said, noting the North will likely have no qualms about selling its technology.

Bargaining chip
Some, however, see proliferation as a card the North might be willing to bargain away, provided it can achieve a satisfactory deal with Washington.

"North Korea wants to normalize their relations with the U.S. while they keep their nuclear weapons," said Kim Tae-woo, vice president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. "North Korea will promise not to proliferate" if it can achieve that, he said.

For Washington, that is unlikely to be acceptable. The United States, besides vocally condemning North Korea's nuclear tests, has consistently demanded that the country verifiably abandon its nuclear programs if it wants formal relations.

Given the growing chasm over its nuclear program — North Korea pulled out of six-nation talks aimed at its denuclearization last month after the U.N. Security Council condemned its rocket launch — and the North's increasingly strident tone, pessimism is growing for any quick end to tensions.

"The hawks tend to be in the driver's seat and I think that's the case in Pyongyang," said the ICG's Pinkston. "The prospects are quite bleak."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Quote from: Razgovory on May 27, 2009, 09:35:44 PM
You know I'm begining to wonder if worries about North Korea were all wrong.  The old argument was that might become a wholesale nuke seller.  I wonder if instead they are using it as cover for an invasion of the South.  Threaten to destroy a Japanese city if the US intervenes.  Of course that's not a rational risk to make, but these guys are really strange.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 27, 2009, 09:37:05 PM

Quote from: Razgovory on May 27, 2009, 09:35:44 PM
You know I'm begining to wonder if worries about North Korea were all wrong.  The old argument was that might become a wholesale nuke seller.  I wonder if instead they are using it as cover for an invasion of the South.  Threaten to destroy a Japanese city if the US intervenes.  Of course that's not a rational risk to make, but these guys are really strange.

The South would whip them singlehandedly.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 27, 2009, 09:37:05 PM

Quote from: Razgovory on May 27, 2009, 09:35:44 PM
You know I'm begining to wonder if worries about North Korea were all wrong.  The old argument was that might become a wholesale nuke seller.  I wonder if instead they are using it as cover for an invasion of the South.  Threaten to destroy a Japanese city if the US intervenes.  Of course that's not a rational risk to make, but these guys are really strange.

The South would whip them singlehandedly.

Quote from: Queequeg on May 28, 2009, 01:14:43 AM
Couldn't they come close to flattening Seou by traditional means? 35 miles from the border and one of the biggest cities in the world.

Quote from: Saladin on May 28, 2009, 08:25:25 AM


According to Tom Clancy the Japanese already have nukes.. :P

Quote from: Tyr on May 28, 2009, 08:35:10 AM
meh, let the N.Koreans have their nukes, its no big deal (don't tell them this of course though).

Quote from: Saladin on May 28, 2009, 07:55:12 AM

Is there any realistic way to stop that? How many tubes do the North Koreans have?

Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 08:42:33 AM

Quote from: Tyr on May 28, 2009, 08:35:10 AM
meh, let the N.Koreans have their nukes, its no big deal (don't tell them this of course though).

Nuclear proliferation is not a big deal now?

Quote from: Queequeg on May 28, 2009, 01:14:43 AM
They would stand to loose far more economicaly with a devestated South than a North?

Quote from: Malthus on May 28, 2009, 11:21:03 AM
I've said it before, but this is just more proof: North Korea is like a crazy homeless person on the bus at rush hour who sticks a hand grenade in his mouth and threatens to pull the pin unless you all give him money. Right now he's showing he is serious by tossing another grenade out the window so all of the passengers can see his grenades are real.

Quote from: Malthus on May 28, 2009, 11:21:03 AM
I've said it before, but this is just more proof: North Korea is like a crazy homeless person on the bus at rush hour who sticks a hand grenade in his mouth and threatens to pull the pin unless you all give him money. Right now he's showing he is serious by tossing another grenade out the window so all of the passengers can see his grenades are real.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 28, 2009, 11:42:31 AM
Does this happen often to you?

Quote
China's main interest in North Korea at this point is avoiding the scenario where millions of starving refugees flee across the border.  North Korea's sole remaining diplomatic chip of significance it its threat to die messily in the arms of the Chinese if China does not help them.

Quote from: Habsburg on May 27, 2009, 04:18:47 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 27, 2009, 01:59:16 PM
The North Koreans use plutonium bombs, right?

I must give you an update on your Tomb of Final Resting!!

There will be a fisson reactor to power the entire Tomb complex!!1!!  :w00t:

The Titian Wing is nearly completed, and then we shall start on the Van Cleef and Arples precious stone education centre and theme rides.

Total Tomb/Theme Park completion is on schedule for 3Q, 2021.

Sir. :perv:

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 28, 2009, 11:42:31 AM

Quote from: Malthus on May 28, 2009, 11:21:03 AM
I've said it before, but this is just more proof: North Korea is like a crazy homeless person on the bus at rush hour who sticks a hand grenade in his mouth and threatens to pull the pin unless you all give him money. Right now he's showing he is serious by tossing another grenade out the window so all of the passengers can see his grenades are real.

Does this happen often to you?

Quote from: garbon on May 28, 2009, 01:15:59 PM
Do people actually take buses? :huh:

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on May 28, 2009, 11:01:54 AM
  North Korea's sole remaining diplomatic chip of significance it its threat to die messily in the arms of the Chinese if China does not help them.

Quote from: Malthus on May 28, 2009, 01:14:19 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 28, 2009, 11:42:31 AM

Quote from: Malthus on May 28, 2009, 11:21:03 AM
I've said it before, but this is just more proof: North Korea is like a crazy homeless person on the bus at rush hour who sticks a hand grenade in his mouth and threatens to pull the pin unless you all give him money. Right now he's showing he is serious by tossing another grenade out the window so all of the passengers can see his grenades are real.

Does this happen often to you?

I'm not homeless.

QuoteU.S., South Korea raise military alert on North
Communist nation has ramped up tensions with a series of provocations

updated 27 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean and U.S. troops raised their alert Thursday to the highest level since 2006 after North Korea renounced its truce with the allied forces and threatened to strike any ships trying to intercept its vessels.

The move was a sign of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North's underground nuclear test and its firing of a series of short-range missiles earlier this week.

In response, Seoul decided to join more than 90 nations that have agreed to stop and inspect vessels suspected of transporting banned weapons.

North Korea says South Korea's participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative is a prelude to a naval blockade and raises the prospect of a naval skirmish in its western waters.

On Wednesday, it renounced the 1953 truce that halted fighting in the Korean War. It said Thursday through its official media that it was preparing for an American-led attack. The U.S. has repeatedly denied it is planning military action.

"The northward invasion scheme by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet regime has exceeded the alarming level," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "A minor accidental skirmish can lead to a nuclear war."

The two Koreas remain technically at war since a peace treaty has never replaced the truce.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young accused the North of "seriously distorting" the decision to join in the initiative and called its response "a groundless misconception."

Alert level
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said the South Korea-U.S. combined forces command raised its surveillance from the third to the second-highest level on a scale of 5. He said the last time the alert level was that high was in 2006, when the North conducted its first nuclear test.

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff officer, speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy, said the South's military has also bolstered "personnel and equipment deployment" along its land and sea borders.

He said, however, that there has been no particular movement of North Korean troops along the heavily fortified border areas.

There are 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea and another 50,000 in Japan. All are within striking range of North Korea's missiles.

Though the officer refused to give details, South Korea's mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Thursday that Seoul has recently deployed more anti-air missiles and artillery at its military bases on islands near the disputed western sea border with North Korea.

A South Korean destroyer also has been deployed near the sea border to prepare for any provocations, the newspaper said.

Seoul has said its military is prepared to "respond sternly" to any North Korean provocation, and would be able to contain the North with the help of U.S. troops.

The U.N. Command on Korea issued a statement defending the armistice and said it would continue to observe it.

"The armistice has served as the legal basis for the cease-fire in Korea for over 55 years and significantly contributes to stability in the region," it said. "The armistice remains in force and is binding on all signatories, including North Korea."

Testing Obama
Experts said the recent flurry of belligerence from North Korea may reflect an effort by leader Kim Jong Il, who is reportedly grooming one of his sons as his successor, to boost his standing among his impoverished people by generating fear and claiming to be strong in the face of outside threats.

It was also seen as testing the new administration of President Barack Obama.

North Korea has announced it was abandoning the armistice several times before — most recently in 2003 and 2006.

The truce doesn't cover the waters off the west coast, and North Korea has used the maritime border dispute to provoke two deadly naval skirmishes — in 1999 and 2002.

Diplomats, meanwhile, discussed further what measures should be taken to punish the North.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned of "consequences" but it remained unclear what action the U.N. .Security Council would take.

The five permanent veto-wielding council members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — and the two countries most closely affected by the nuclear test, Japan and South Korea, discussed possible U.N. sanctions and other measures for a new Security Council resolution on Tuesday.

A diplomat, who was familiar with the talks but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were closed, said Wednesday there was a clear commitment to go for sanctions in the new resolution and no reluctance from North Korea's allies, China and Russia.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said a new resolution should be stronger than the one issued after the North's first atomic test in October 2006 and contain sanctions.

Aso also indicated a possibility that Japan may impose its own sanctions, though he said he has to see the content of the U.N. resolution currently being discussed.

Associated Press and Reuters.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 28, 2009, 04:12:44 PM
The South is taking this saber rattling seriously.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 28, 2009, 04:11:23 PM

Quote from: Malthus on May 28, 2009, 01:14:19 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 28, 2009, 11:42:31 AM

Quote from: Malthus on May 28, 2009, 11:21:03 AM
I've said it before, but this is just more proof: North Korea is like a crazy homeless person on the bus at rush hour who sticks a hand grenade in his mouth and threatens to pull the pin unless you all give him money. Right now he's showing he is serious by tossing another grenade out the window so all of the passengers can see his grenades are real.

Does this happen often to you?

I'm not homeless.

I meant, do you run into that situation on the bus often.

Quote from: Valmy on May 28, 2009, 08:21:13 AM
So...when do the Japanese and South Koreans start their own nuclear programs?

Quote from: Caliga on May 28, 2009, 08:40:48 AM

Quote from: Saladin on May 28, 2009, 08:25:25 AM


According to Tom Clancy the Japanese already have nukes.. :P

:unsure: I thought it was generally conceded that, while the Japanese don't have a nuclear arsenal and for obvious reasons are strongly opposed to the idea, they could easily build nuclear weapons if they chose to.

Quote
N. Korea may be prepping long-range missile
NBC report comes as another short-range rocket is launched

NBC News and news services
updated 38 minutes ago

YEONPYEONG, South Korea - North Korea is showing signs of preparing for another long-range missile launch after launching a series of short-range missiles, including one on Friday.

The communist country warned Friday it would act in "self-defense" if provoked by the U.N. Security Council, which is considering tough sanctions over the communist country's nuclear test. U.S. officials told NBC News that preliminary results of atmospheric tests confirmed that underground test, at a yield of 1 to 2 kilotons.

U.S. military officials also told NBC that North Korea appears to be preparing another long-range missile test. According to the officials, spy satellites have detected "activities ... movement of people and equipment" around the long-range missile launch site outside Pyongyang.

The officials say the activity appears to be very preliminary, and it would apparently take several months before the North Koreans would be prepared to conduct their fourth test of a long-range missile.

The North fired the latest short-range missile from its Musudan-ni launch site on the east coast, a South Korean government official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter. It is the sixth short-range missile North Korea has test-fired since Monday's nuclear test.

The official did not provide further details. But the Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified South Korean government official as saying the missile is a new type of ground-to-air missile estimated to have a range of up to 160 miles.

Yonhap said the missile is believed to be an improved version of the SA-5, which North Korea introduced in 1963 and deployed in eastern and western parts of the country. The SA-5 was originally produced by the Soviet Union.

U.S. officials tell NBC News that preliminary results of atmospheric tests indicate North Korea did detonate a nuclear device, somewhere between 1 to 2 kilotons as earlier estimated.

The tests were conducted on atmospheric samples collected by U.S. Air Force "sniffer planes" shortly after the underground nuclear test on Monday to determine the amount of plutonium particles released into the atmosphere.

It's not clear yet if the North Korean test would be considered a success — whether the 1- to 2-kiloton explosion is what the North Koreans had intended.

Retaliation threat
With tensions high on the Korean peninsula, Chinese fishing boats left the region, possibly to avoid any maritime skirmishes between the two Koreas. But U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the situation was not a crisis and no additional U.S. troops would be sent to the region.

North Korea, meanwhile, warned it would retaliate if provoked.

"If the U.N. Security Council makes a further provocation, it will be inevitable for us to take further self-defense measures," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea also accused the Security Council of hypocrisy.

"There is a limit to our patience," the statement said. "The nuclear test conducted in our nation this time is the Earth's 2,054th nuclear test. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have conducted 99.99 percent of the total nuclear tests."

The North has been strident since its test — which it has also called a self-defensive measure. It did not specify what further action it was considering in response to U.N. resolutions, or what it would consider a provocation.

Fears have increased of military skirmishes, particularly in disputed waters off the western coast, after North Korea conducted the nuclear test on Monday and then renounced the truce that has kept peace between the Koreas since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The waters were the site of two deadly clashes in 1999 and 2002.

From Yeonpyeong, the South Korean island closest to North Korea, about a dozen Chinese ships could be seen pulling out of port in the North and heading elsewhere. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that more than 280 Chinese vessels were fishing in the area earlier this week, but the number has dropped to about 140.

Click for related content
Defense chief: No need to add troops in Korea

It was not clear if the Chinese vessels, in the area for the crabbing season, were told by the North to leave or if they were leaving on their own for fear of clashes at sea.

"For now, it seems quiet," said local construction worker Lee Hae-un, 43. "But if North Korea provokes us with military power, I think our government should actively and firmly counteract it."

Alert level raised
South Korean and U.S. troops facing North Korea raised their surveillance on Thursday to its highest level since 2006, when North Korea tested its first nuclear device. About 28,000 American troops are stationed across the South.

North Korea, whose 1.2-million strong military is one of the world's largest, says it is merely preparing to defend itself against what it says are plans by the United States to launch a pre-emptive strike to overthrow its communist government.

The United States has repeatedly denied any intention to attack North Korea.

In Washington, the Army's top officer, Gen. George Casey, expressed confidence that the U.S. could fight a conventional war against North Korea if necessary, despite continuing conflicts elsewhere.

But Gates, en route to Singapore for regional defense talks, tried to lower the temperature.

"I don't think that anybody in the (Obama) administration thinks there is a crisis," Gates told reporters aboard his military jet early Friday.

Meanwhile, talks at the U.N. Security Council over possible sanctions for the nuclear test were moving forward slowly.

Russia's U.N. ambassador said Thursday there was wide agreement among key world powers on what a new U.N. resolution should include, but said putting the elements together will take time because the issues are "complicated."

Resolution next week?
A list of proposals was sent Wednesday to the five permanent veto-wielding council members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — and the two countries most closely affected by the nuclear test, Japan and South Korea.

Diplomats said a draft of the proposed resolution is not expected to be circulated until next week.

The two Koreas technically remain at war because they signed a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953. North Korea disputes the U.N.-drawn maritime border off their west coast and has positioned artillery guns along the west coast on its side of the border, Yonhap said.

Traffic at the border between the Koreas appeared to be normal. Yonhap said more than 340 South Korean workers crossed to a joint industrial complex in the North.

The two Koreas are also maintaining a communication line to exchange information on commercial vessels passing through each other's waters, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.

NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski contributed to this report from The Associated Press.

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:25:34 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Slow news day.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 03:27:32 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:25:34 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Slow news day.

They don't want to get caught up in the crossfire of any naval battles.

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:41:21 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 03:27:32 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:25:34 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Slow news day.

They don't want to get caught up in the crossfire of any naval battles.

And you do?

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 03:42:24 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:41:21 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 03:27:32 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:25:34 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Slow news day.

They don't want to get caught up in the crossfire of any naval battles.

And you do?

I don't have any ships in Korea Bay. :mellow:

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:25:34 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Slow news day.

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:43:09 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 03:42:24 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:41:21 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on May 29, 2009, 03:27:32 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:25:34 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Slow news day.

They don't want to get caught up in the crossfire of any naval battles.

And you do?

I don't have any ships in Korea Bay. :mellow:

OK I'm not even gonna hit that one.

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:44:45 PM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:25:34 PM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 29, 2009, 03:12:57 PM
Saw on the news that Chinese ships are leaving NK ports.

Slow news day.

Yes it is. Attention whore in chief was on TV again.

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 03:47:49 PM
In other news a Warhammer board I lurk at is getting Viagra spammed today. Oh the irony.

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 12:50:28 PM
In today's paper Hans Blix made a fool of himself again. "LOL Israel should get rid of their nukes (if the ME was made a nuke free zone), they are safer with no nukes at all in the region, their conventional forces are sufficient". Yeah, their conventional forces sure protected them against war in the 40s-70s. Thanks Hans, go sleep it off.

In Swedish: http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/artikel_2971871.svd

Quote from: Alatriste on May 30, 2009, 02:44:29 AM

Quote from: The Brain on May 29, 2009, 12:50:28 PM
In today's paper Hans Blix made a fool of himself again. "LOL Israel should get rid of their nukes (if the ME was made a nuke free zone), they are safer with no nukes at all in the region, their conventional forces are sufficient". Yeah, their conventional forces sure protected them against war in the 40s-70s. Thanks Hans, go sleep it off.

In Swedish: http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/artikel_2971871.svd

Neither did their nukes... thay had them at least in 1973, perhaps earlier.

I happen to agree with him, by the way. With a big conventional superiority, no Cold War, no USSR, an American alliance and a peace treaty with Egypt too, Israel is no longer in danger of being overrun by Arab armies, a term these days means Syria and Syria alone.

Actually, Israel should scrap nukes just because they aren't worth the money spent and the negative publicity price (and perhaps never were, since Israel could count on America's protection)

Quote from: Alatriste on May 30, 2009, 02:44:29 AM
I happen to agree with him, by the way. With a big conventional superiority, no Cold War, no USSR, an American alliance and a peace treaty with Egypt too, Israel is no longer in danger of being overrun by Arab armies, a term these days means Syria and Syria alone.

Actually, Israel should scrap nukes just because they aren't worth the money spent and the negative publicity price (and perhaps never were, since Israel could count on America's protection)