Abnormal radiation was detected near the inter-Korean border days after North Korea claimed last month to have achieved a nuclear technology breakthrough, South Korea’s Science Ministry said yesterday.
The ministry said it failed to find the cause of the radiation, but ruled out a possible underground nuclear test by North Korea. It cited no evidence of a strong earthquake that must follow an atomic explosion.
On May 12, North Korea claimed its scientists succeeded in creating a nuclear fusion reaction — a technology necessary to manufacture a hydrogen bomb.
The technology also one day could provide limitless clean energy because it produces little radioactive waste, unlike fission, which powers conventional nuclear power reactors.
South Korean experts doubted the North actually made such a breakthrough. Scientists around the world have been experimenting with fusion for decades, but it has yet to be developed into a viable energy alternative.
On May 15, however, the atmospheric concentration of xenon — an inert gas released after a nuclear explosion or radioactive leakage from a nuclear power plant — on the South Korean side of the inter-Korean border was found to be eight times higher than normal, according to South Korea’s Science Ministry.
South Korea subsequently looked for signs of a powerful, artificially induced earthquake — something that should have been detected if North Korea had conducted a nuclear test. Experts, however, found no signs of a such a quake in North Korea, a ministry statement said.
“We determined that there was no possibility of an underground nuclear test,” it said.
The ministry did not mention any possible health hazard from the release.
Earlier yesterday, South Korea’s mass circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that North Korea may have conducted a small-sized nuclear test, citing the abnormal radioactivity. The paper cited an atomic expert it did not identify.
North Korea — which is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half-dozen nuclear weapons, conducted two underground nuclear tests in 2006 and last year, drawing international condemnation and UN sanctions.
A Science Ministry official said the wind was blowing from north to south when the xenon was detected.
But the official — speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department policy — said xenon could have come from Russia or China, not necessarily from North Korea, as South Korea was unable to find the reason for the high-level of the gas.
The official also said that there was no possibility that the xenon could have originated from any nuclear power plants in South Korea.
Meanwhile, a group of South Korean Christians said yesterday it is “nonsense” to invite former US president George W. Bush to a prayer meeting marking the Korean War anniversary.
Bush, a devout Christian, is set to arrive in Seoul today to speak at a prayer meeting later in the day to mark the 60th anniversary of the war’s outbreak, organizers said.
The meeting at Sangam World Cup Stadium will also feature church leaders like the Reverend Choi Yong-gi, founder of the Seoul Youido Full Gospel Church.
It is expected to draw tens of thousands of people, Yonhap news agency reported.
Some Christian organizations, including the Christian Alliance for Church Reform, the Korea Christian Faculty Association and the YMCA Life and Peace Center, expressed regret at Bush’s presence.
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