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Radiation at Korean border still a mystery
Source: Agencies |
June 22, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ABNORMALLY high radiation levels were detected near the border between the two Koreas days after North Korea claimed to have mastered a complex technology key to manufacturing a hydrogen bomb, South Korea said yesterday.
The South Korean Science Ministry said its investigation ruled out a nuclear test by North Korea, but failed to determine the source of the radiation. It said there was no evidence of a strong earthquake, which follows an atomic explosion.
On May 12, North Korea claimed its scientists succeeded in creating a nuclear fusion reaction - a technology necessary to manufacture a hydrogen bomb. In its announcement, the North did not say how it would use the technology, only calling it a "breakthrough toward the development of new energy."
South Korean experts doubted the North actually made such a breakthrough. Scientists around the world have been experimenting with fusion for decades, but it has yet to be developed into a viable energy alternative.
On May 15, however, the atmospheric concentration of xenon - an inert gas released after a nuclear explosion or a radioactive leakage from a nuclear power plant - on the South Korean side of their shared border was found to be eight times higher than normal, according to South Korea's Science Ministry.
South Korea subsequently looked for signs of an artificially-induced earthquake. Experts, however, found no signs of a such a quake, a ministry statement said.
"We determined that there was no possibility of an underground nuclear test," it said. The ministry said the gas is not harmful.
While any fusion test would have registered seismic activity, according to nuclear expert Whang Joo-ho of South Korea's Kyung Hee University, the presence of xenon could also have come from a leak.
Since the wind was blowing from north to south when the xenon was detected, a Science Ministry official said the gas could not have originated from any nuclear power plants in South Korea.
Earlier yesterday, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that North Korea may have made a small-sized nuclear test, citing the abnormal radioactivity. The paper cited an atomic expert it did not identify.
The news of the detected radiation comes as tension is running high on the Korean peninsula over the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. North Korea denies the allegation and has warned any penalty would trigger war, as the United Nations Security Council reviews Seoul's request for action.
The South Korean Science Ministry said its investigation ruled out a nuclear test by North Korea, but failed to determine the source of the radiation. It said there was no evidence of a strong earthquake, which follows an atomic explosion.
On May 12, North Korea claimed its scientists succeeded in creating a nuclear fusion reaction - a technology necessary to manufacture a hydrogen bomb. In its announcement, the North did not say how it would use the technology, only calling it a "breakthrough toward the development of new energy."
South Korean experts doubted the North actually made such a breakthrough. Scientists around the world have been experimenting with fusion for decades, but it has yet to be developed into a viable energy alternative.
On May 15, however, the atmospheric concentration of xenon - an inert gas released after a nuclear explosion or a radioactive leakage from a nuclear power plant - on the South Korean side of their shared border was found to be eight times higher than normal, according to South Korea's Science Ministry.
South Korea subsequently looked for signs of an artificially-induced earthquake. Experts, however, found no signs of a such a quake, a ministry statement said.
"We determined that there was no possibility of an underground nuclear test," it said. The ministry said the gas is not harmful.
While any fusion test would have registered seismic activity, according to nuclear expert Whang Joo-ho of South Korea's Kyung Hee University, the presence of xenon could also have come from a leak.
Since the wind was blowing from north to south when the xenon was detected, a Science Ministry official said the gas could not have originated from any nuclear power plants in South Korea.
Earlier yesterday, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that North Korea may have made a small-sized nuclear test, citing the abnormal radioactivity. The paper cited an atomic expert it did not identify.
The news of the detected radiation comes as tension is running high on the Korean peninsula over the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. North Korea denies the allegation and has warned any penalty would trigger war, as the United Nations Security Council reviews Seoul's request for action.
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