Slashdot Mirror
Experts Warn Of Possible North Korean Nuclear Test
After the recent failure of North Korea's rocket launch test, experts are warning that the country's leadership will likely try to save face by following it up with a nuclear weapons test. According to CBS, "The rocket launch had been hailed as a moment of national pride, but it disintegrated over the Yellow Sea, earning it embarrassment as well as condemnation from a host of nations that deemed it a covert test of missile technology. In a rare move for Pyongyang, the government admitted that the rocket did not deliver a satellite, but it also pressed ahead with grandiose propaganda in praise of the ruling Kim family." The Guardian adds, "Speculation is mounting that the North will attempt to claw back some of its credibility with a third nuclear test. Recent satellite images from the site used for previous nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 suggested plans for another underground explosion were already in place before the Unha-3 rocket broke apart and splashed into the Yellow Sea on Friday morning."
I bet a satellites in space shot this rocket down, using some form of laser. The technology has been around since the 80's, so why not?
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
A very Un-ha first post - broke up and fell into the internet.
Why is there a flurry of general interest news on a technical news web site? N. Korea nuke tests, Treyvon Martin shooting, Rick Santorum articles. Can we get back to posting articles about technical issues, please? We can get general interest news anywhere. News and discussion about technical items and open source software and hardware is harder to come by, which is why I come here. It's what makes Slashdot appealing. If you take that away then you take away the reason to come here over, say, NPR's web site.
We'd better invade then, just in case.
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Really at this stage its gone well beyond a joke. I have friends in Japan who were quite worried about this, to say nothing of the sheer evil of the regime itself. Maybe its time to bite the bullet and just cut off food aid to North Korea so they are forced to reduce the size of their army and actually feed their own people? Or would Kim go for a full on invasion of the South in reality?
Why test in the backyard? Even if it involves a risk (www.google.com/search?q=underground+test+nuclear+risk+assessment)?
I guess that given that NK is a small country I can understand their willingness to do it in the backyard and that they have come to the conclusion it must be a fairly low risk.
But, still? What if they screw up like they did with their rocket?
Any chance we could locate and recover anything? I think the capsule would be of particular interest...
I found that to be bigger news then the actual failure.
I could interpret this action that North Korea want to get out of its cycle, but it needs to slowly get its citizens to think for themselves. By having the government admit that they could fail, can spark the idea to the public that they don't have to blindly trust the government.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
bad enough they play rocketeer before they have worked out their controls. we know they've been setting up for another nuke fizzle with assets watching them mess about their underground test site for months.
to jump boldly ahead with another fizzle ahead of schedule to try and save face... well, shall we say, unpredictable results shall ensue. this time they might have an explosion before they get the bomb out of the handcart.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
would be for the US to actually go ahead and give them the food aid they threatened to withhold if NK launched a satellite
how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
This is not true. They have their own news site on the real internet. The site is hosted in Japan.
http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201203/news29/20120329-32ee.html
That is an article about the rocket before launch.
Boyd Crowder, is that you?
At least they don't have rocket scientists any more. I doubt any of them survived the rocket explosion by more than an hour.
If they are doing stuff to stick their middle finger up at the world and feel great I'd do an above the ground test. It's FAR more impressive.
yes..radiation, destruction, etc are are a problem. But just sayin if you are going for something to be impressive the above ground test is better than watching a massive sinkhole get made in a moments notice.
attempt to claw back some of its credibility with a third nuclear test
Perhaps domestically, but internationally they can claw back some credibility by not having a third nuclear test.
The ball's in your court, Jong-un. Your father burned all his credibility, but you have an excellent opportunity. Don't waste it trying to show off.
The star wars project was actually a success. It was only deemed a failure, as to keep our enemies off guard.
Exactly the same thing with the North Korean rocket launch. Let the world laugh while the Great North Korean intergalactic spaceship is nearing completion.
Yeah, that's smart. After you fail on a well tought rocket test, you simply rush a nuclear test so that people will forget the first one. Bonus point if all your well tought nuclear tests also failed up to now. Don't worry, this time things will work out ok, there is no pression or anything.
Ok, I can belive they are planning that. If their leader have a bad idea, it will come through execution anyway... But it isn't an automatic thing like the summary implies.
Rethinking email
Sure on paper it sounds like all you need to do is take a late 1950's early 1960's edition Chinese CSS-2 Scud variant and bolt a second stage made out of another Scud-C on top of that and then build another rocket, a smaller one, using a Chinese SRB and bolt that atop your ghetto rigged second stage. But in practice getting all that stuff to work right in your poor broken down slave society driven by terror is a lot harder.
...nuke to lob at someone. Seriously, this is why nuclear technician isn't up there with brain surgeon and rocket scientist.
they don't have oil. :)
We test nuclear weapons ON North Korea!
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
There's joking talk on the comments today of the laser missile shield taking this down. Joking aside, as a technical question: assuming they could/did shoot at the missile, I'm curious - is there a signature people would be able to detect a laser with?
You think too small. Leave toy robots and lite-brites with Mooninite artwork on them around the city.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Now Kim must kill himself, due to the shame he has brought forth to his family and country. Any attempts they have made were failures so they are going to shame themselves yet again by testing another rocket, which I will surely explode in early flight.