noo-kyuh-ler

After some discussion, the toothless United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution imposing weapons-related sanctions on North Korea. North Korea replied to this move with the usual scorn and contempt, and laid the blame for the situation squarely at the US's feet:

The Security Council had acted with "irresponsibility" by voting unanimously for a resolution requiring nations to prevent North Korea from acquiring dangerous weapons, an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

"Our Republic will bolster its war deterrent for self-defence in every way, by all means and methods, now that the situation has reached the worst phase due to the extremely hostile act of the U.S.," the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

North Korea refers to its military buildup and its weapons of mass destruction programs as its war deterrent, saying the U.S. military presence and drills on the Korean peninsula are a prelude to war against it.

The article also says this:

North Korea could respond with another missile launch or possibly even conduct a nuclear test to show the world it is undaunted and undeterred, said Paik Hak-soon who heads North Korea studies at the Sejong Institute, a national security think tank near Seoul.

North Korea has enough nuclear material to make as many as 13 atomic bombs, according to one recent study.

So I'm curious, folks:

The Korean peninsula sits just outside the Ring of Fire. We're lucky not to experience anything near the trouble Japan has with regard to seismic activity due to earthquakes and/or volcanoes. What would happen to Japan if NK conducted an underground test? Would Japan feel it? Could an NK nuke test have tectonic repercussions for Japan, or this there no chance of this?

Feel free to write in with comments, but don't write in if you can't quote solid online sources. I've been reading up on so-called "weasel words" in Wikipedia, and I've come to the realization that my blog contains too many of them. I'm going to try to eliminate them from now on... and you should, too. Heh.


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