World News Huge blast just construction work: N. Korea

フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする

WASHINGTON (AP) - North Korea said Sept. 13 that a huge cloud caused by an explosion several days before was the planned demolition of a mountain for a hydroelectric project, adding that speculation in South Korea that the blast was a nuclear test was part of a "smear campaign."

North Korea invited a team of foreign diplomats to visit the site to confirm the story Sept. 16.

A mammoth explosion Sept. 9 in the isolated, communist North reportedly produced a mushroom cloud more than three kilometers across near the country's border with China. The crater left by the explosion was so large that it could be picked up by satellite.

South Korean and U.S. officials had said they were trying to ascertain the cause of the huge cloud. The size of the reported explosion on the 56th anniversary of the foundation of North Korea had raised speculation that it might be a nuclear test.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was no indication it was.

北朝鮮、大規模爆発を説明

北朝鮮政府は13日、9日の爆発は建設工事によるものだと説明した。

Shukan ST: Sept. 24, 2004

(C) All rights reserved