Here we go again…

North Korea Plans to launch a nuclear test, from NYtimes:

(WASHINGTON, Oct. 3) North Korea announced Tuesday that it intended to conduct its first nuclear test, prompting warnings from Tokyo to Washington that an underground explosion would lead to a sharp response and could undermine the security balance in Asia.

What if North Korea tests a nuclear bomb?

(CSMonitor) “At a minimum, a test would be a clarifying moment,” says Jonathan Pollack, director of the Strategic Research Department at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

In addition, a test would hold geopolitical ramifications for the northeast Asian region, experts say, and for international efforts to keep the proliferation genie in its bottle. “The political effects of a nuclear test would be at least as consequential - and destabilizing - as any technological leap it might provide the North Korean nuclear program,” says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington.

A test would shake up northeast Asia, sending shock waves through South Korea and possibly inciting a regional arms race - causing Japan and even South Korea to consider it a necessity to reverse course and develop their own nuclear deterrents. That, experts say, would very likely mean that the international nonproliferation regime is dead. (More)

“Happy Birthday Puti!”

(JPost)North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has sent a birthday greeting to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday, amid mounting tensions over a possible nuclear weapons test by the reclusive communist country.

In a brief message, Kim extended congratulations to Putin on his 54th birthday and wished him success in accomplishing Russia’s socio-economic development, KCNA said.

Japan wants North Korea to halt the tests… or they can continue to test and they will ask the Anti-Security Council to slap the North Koreans on the wrist.

(news1130) Japan sees a possible nuclear test by North Korea as “a grave threat to the peace and security of Northeast Asia and the world” and welcomed the statement, a Japanese Foreign Ministry statement said.

“If North Korea conducts a nuclear weapons test, despite the concerns expressed by international society, the Security Council must adopt a resolution outlining severely punitive measures,” the ministry said.

Blowing up a coal mine…

(BEIJING) North Korea is ‘more or less ready’ to conduct a nuclear test deep inside an abandoned coal mine but might hold off it can win concessions from the United States, a Chinese source briefed by Pyongyang said on Friday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a device would be detonated about 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) inside a mine near the border with China in the north of the country.