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North Korea Says It Has Conducted Nuclear Test
ScentCone writes "North Korea says that it has conducted its first nuclear weapons test and 'brought happiness to its people.' Japan and China earlier issued an unusual joint statement saying that such a test would be 'unacceptable.' As of 11:10PM EST, the USGS says that it has not detected any unusual seismic activity on the Korean peninsula in the last 48 hours." From the article: "The North said last week it would conduct a test, sparking regional concern and frantic diplomatic efforts aimed at dissuading Pyongyang from such a move. North Korea has long claimed to have nuclear weapons, but had never before performed a known test to prove its arsenal. The nuclear test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (0136 GMT) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, Yonhap reported, citing defense officials." Update: 10/09 05:50 GMT by J : The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 4.2 magnitude quake; South Korean news is reporting a 3.58 magnitude event; the White House apparently confirms a nuclear test.
In Communist North Korea, Nuclear bombs test YOU!!!
Blessed are the 1337, for they shall pwn the earth.
To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how much NK having nukes changes the situation. They already have enough conventional weapons to completely ruin South Korea's day. (Seoul is within artillery range of the DMZ, as somebody else pointed out.) Japan is definitely within range of their missles, so NK having nukes does up the ante a bit there. The Japanese might loose a few cities they are fond of (that doesn't seem fair somehow - they got nuked last time, it should be somebody else's turn now). And, depending on how well you think North Korea's long range missle program is going, we could stand to loose San Francisco. (A pity, I rather like Emperor Norton...)
Of course, once Kim Jong-il fires all of that off, he's going to be in deep trouble. The DMZ might be fortified to a fare-thee-well, but North Korea's air force is a joke. Invading might be problematic, but we can definitely bomb them back to the Stone Age while we're working on it. And if he does push the big red button, we *will* invade. Also, if Kim goes *that* crazy, we'll probably also have the Chinese helping us. I think even they would prefer to have a reunifed and democratic Korea as a neighbor rather than a mad-dog nuclear state.
I don't think Kim having nukes really tips the balance that much. It just ups the ante, which was already pretty high. The scary thing is, I'm not entirely sure we can trust Kim not to put one of these babies on the open market. Mutual assured destruction won't work too well against Al Qaeda. On the up side, I don't think Kim has too many of these, so the asking price will be more than even Al Qaeda is going to be able to pay.