North Korea's claim that a huge and mysterious explosion was caused by a civil engineering project might be true, South Korea's intelligence agency said yesterday.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told the National Assembly that last week's explosion, which reportedly kicked up a huge mushroom cloud, could be earth-removing work to build a dam.
PHOTO: AP
Pyongyang said the blast was a controlled explosion to prepare for construction of a hydro-electric project in Kimhyungjik county in Ryanggang Province.
"There might have been a blast to build a hydro-electric power dam near Kimhyungjik county or there might have been natural clouds with a peculiar [mushroom-like] shape," NIS said.
"We will continue checking on the incident," Yonhap news agency quoted NIS as telling the assembly's intelligence committee.
The state-financed Korea Aerospace Research Institute released satellite pictures of the scene but these were too unclear to give any clues about the cause of the blast, which sparked initial fears of a nuclear test.
A Unification Ministry official said the images taken by South Korea's Arirang No.1 satellite were of low resolution.
"We need some high-resolution images," he said.
No abnormal radiation levels have been detected in the region, but questions remain.
"Why energy-stricken North Korea would conduct a project at night cannot be understood," an editorial in Chosun Ilbo said Tuesday. "Why it took place when the whole nation were supposed to have a day of rest remains a question."
The area where the explosion took place is North Korea's main center for launching ballistic missiles, Im Young Sun, a North Korean defector who has visited the area, said on Tuesday.
He theorized that on the night of Sept. 8, a missile launching was being prepared to celebrate the nation's 56th birthday. The explosion of liquid nitrogen fuel could have happened when the missile was being fueled on a launching pad.
In other developments, the North is waiting out the US presidential election in order to bargain with the winner over its nuclear weapons program, according to a British diplomat who left Pyong-yang on Tuesday.
"The North Koreans were saying they were still committed to the six-party talks process, but weren't prepared to commit to a date," Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell told reporters at the Beijing airport on Tuesday.
At the last round of six-party talks on the North's nuclear crisis, the countries agreed to hold the next round by Sept. 30.
One factor "is the timing of the American presidential election," Rammell said. "I made clear to them my view that whoever wins the presidential election -- whether it's President Bush or Senator Kerry -- North Korea will be faced with broadly the same strategic policy from the United States, and this isn't just about the United States."
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS