Yanggang Province Explosion: Speculations over Possible North Korean Nuclear Tests

IAEA director Mohamed El Baradei announced on Sunday that he does not believe North Korea set off a nuclear explosion but cannot entirely dismiss the assumption.

During his visit in Washington, Director El Baradei was interviewed by CNN and was asked, “Do you believe that North Korea tested a nuclear bomb in Yanggang Province?” He replied saying, “Although we do not believe this occurred, we cannot confirm this statement since we have not yet seen the site.”

To another question, “Do you believe that North Korea has gone forward with nuclear tests?” he replied, “I believe this is possible. We cannot say we are 100 percent sure that a nuclear test has taken place when we were not there.”

Director El Baradei also added, “North Korea has acquired the necessary amount of plutonium to manufacture a nuclear weapon, and has not had any inspections during the last two years. There is a possibility that North Korea has manufactured one or even several nuclear weapons.”

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com