Japan remains open to atomic link N. Korea Explosion, U.S. rejects

In the absence of any official explanation for last week’s huge explosion in the northern inland province of Yanggang, North Korea, the Japanese press is leaning toward the possibility of nuclear weapon tests. The western presses, including the United States, are skeptical about the Japanese analysis, while not excluding any possibilities.

--Japan

The Kyodo News cited a source in Beijing saying that the U.S. government pays keen attention to the possibility of the explosion’s being linked to a nuclear test. The Kyodo News also cited Yonhap News, and added a statement by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who said that the chances of an atomic link are minimal.

Major Japanese newspapers, including Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun, listed the articles related to this explosion on the front page of their Web site, and reported that this explosion seemed to be stronger than the Yongchon train blast in April in the northwestern region of North Korea, near the Chinese border.

Diplomatic circles in Japan expressed concerns over the issue of security in the East Asian region if this explosion turns out to have resulted from a nuclear weapon experiment. A diplomatic source said it is inauspicious even though the cause of the explosion has not yet been identified. Another source predicted that with this incident, it would be extremely difficult to have a new round of six-way talks over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in September.

--United States and others

Reuters cited a U.S. State Department official who said that it is “pretty sure” that the explosion did not result from a nuclear test of any kind. The official said that they believe such reports to be “completely unfounded.”

Reuters reported a statement by John Bellini, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey. "If it was a nuclear bomb, that would have been detected by everybody in the world," Bellini said.

The U.S. Geological Survey is a world-class organization that detects earthquakes, natural disasters, and scientific phenomena happening through out the world.

The Associated Press said that if North Korea had carried out a nuclear weapons experiment days ago, experts all over the world would have known the fact. It also questioned the speculations that North Korea carried out a nuclear weapons test in celebration of a major national holiday.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has not yet released an official reaction to this incident. State news agency Xinhua News did not report any related articles at all. Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency reported that there was a strong explosion in Yanggang province and the cause has not been confirmed yet. The Russian government is observing the situation.

Jin Lee leej@donga.com