Japan Denies Substances Linked to N Korea Test Detected

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Politics: 14 October 2006, Saturday.

The Japanese government has denied reports unusual radiation levels had been detected after North Korea's announcement it had conducted a nuclear test.

The United States has told Japan it detected radioactive elements in the atmosphere over the vicinity of the Sea of Japan following North Korea's announced nuclear test.

Jiji Press reported the result of the US investigation is preliminary, while Kyodo News said Tokyo has yet to conclude the nuclear test was actually carried out as claimed, with both reports citing unnamed government sources.

The radioactive materials were collected by reconnaissance aircraft dispatched from the US Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Kyodo said.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=71160


S.Korea, too . . .


Japan and South Korea say no nuclear fall-out detected
(AFP)

14 October 2006


TOKYO - Japan and South Korea on Saturday said they had not detected any unusual radioactivity this week, after preliminary US findings apparently confirming North Korea’s nuclear test.

Officials in both countries have been monitoring for any abnormal activity on their territory since North Korea announced it detonated a nuclear device on Monday.

“Our latest observations up to Saturday, which are aimed at monitoring radiation levels harmful to human beings, found nothing abnormal,” said Hiroshi Tsuboi, an official from Japan’s taskforce dealing with possible fallout from the test.

“We’ve heard news reports the US government detected radioactive elements, but what we can do is to conduct our own monitoring.”

South Korea also said it had not measured any fallout, but was assuming Monday’s seismic event in northeast North Korea was caused by a nuclear test.

“We examined air and water samples, but we have not detected any radioactive contamination in South Korea following the nuclear test,” said senior researcher Yun Ju-Yung of the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety.

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/October/theworld_October538.xml§ion=theworld&col=



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[Mnemosyne]

1. Hmm, why would the US lie?

Purely rhetorical question.

k and r for more info.

[Laughing Mirror]

2. Iwo Jima, Nagasaki, Hiroshima mon amour

The US would never lie.

[MADem]

5. Why assume they lied?

A little medical waste and TNT could create a localized reading that wouldn't travel very far...

[Sirveri]

6. Medical waste is a differant isotope than nuclear fission

Nuclear fission produces fission fragments which are not used in medicine because they don't have long enough half lifes to remain usefull for more than about 5 days. One way to truly determine a nuclear fission event would be to take a portable air sample, scan it with a radiac, then perform the same scan every 4 hours and chart half lifes. Radioactive materials for medical usage would not decay at all, while the fission event sample would quickly decay away for the first 24 hours as all the short lived particulates decayed away into stable elements.

[MADem]

7. OK, how could they fake the test? How hard would it be, and what

would they need to do?

[Sirveri]

12. Why bother faking the test?

Screw faking the test, just fake the results. Hell you run the air sampler enough times and you WILL get counts off it due to naturally occuring radioactive isotopes in the environment. Then just lie about the half life determination. Or you could harvest the materials needed to really fake the test from a functioning nuclear reactor, but that is a bit complicated and leaves a large paper trail.

[Mnemosyne]

8. Good point MADem. I know that there were no

signs of radioactive material until; was it the next day or the one after?

Story does reek a bit. :holdnosesmilie:

[IndianaGreen]

10. Perhaps it was to bolster the UN vote today on sanctions

US always lies. Bolton always lies.

[Demeter]

3. I DID Wonder At the US Report

How sad that my initial skepticism was well-founded. If Dubya tells you the sky is blue, go outside and look for yourself--and get several blocks away from him while you do!

[TomInTib]

4. The UN is gonna LOVE this one.

Line right up, fellers, and I'll tell you a little story....

[Rex]

9. So, Japan says no and now SK says no. What does China say?

nt

[MGKrebs]

11. So the UN sanctions are for NK talking trash?

Dang. A clear violation of the Nuclear Non-Boasting Treaty.