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.
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."
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