North Korea tests nuclear weapon

And the likely punishment will be the UN telling Ping-Pong Kim Jong to sit in the corner for a half an hour with a dunce hat on... or the international equivalent thereof... Washington (AFP) - US intelligence detected earlier an explosion of less than one kilotonne in magnitude in North Korea but has not been able to determine whether it was nuclear or not, according to senior intelligence official said. The official, who asked not to be identified, said that first-time nuclear tests historically have been in the several kilotonne range. "We are aware that there was a sub-kilotonne explosion in North Korea," said the official. "We have not been able to determine at this point whether it was in fact nuclear." Other experts around the world reported a seismic event on the Korean peninsula that registered between 3.58 and 4.2 on the Richter scale. Norwegian monitors said their readings indicated an explosion of between one and 10 kilotonnes. The test still has to be verified as a nuclear test and experts are supposed to have the confirmation that this was in fact a nuclear test in a couple of days. And I still expect the punishment for this is going to be some lame-ass sanction from the UN, maybe another treaty that won't be worth the paper it's printed on, and in the meantime North Korea will continue to expand its nuclear arsenal and viciously oppress its people. Despite this potentially world altering event, our markets continue to put up a strong showing... Just goes to show you can't keep hard working wall street traders Americans down. UPDATE @ 4:36pm: Hot Air links to an article from April 2000, about how North Korea got their nukes. I know it seems inconceivable, but North Korea had these weapons before George Bush came into office. Of course that will still be spun somehow to make it Bush's fault, despite daming facts like these... But an aid policy initiated by the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s to finance two light water nuclear reactors in North Korea puts the isolated communist country on the fast track in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, William R. Graham and Victor Gilinsky told members of the House Policy Committee. North Korea's missile proliferation has accelerated dramatically since the Clinton-Gore administration began giving aid to the regime in 1994... In 1994 the Clinton administration signed an agreement with North Korea that was designed to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons development program. North Korea sought light water reactors to provide for their energy needs and the U.S. agreed to provide them in exchange for North Korea giving up its nuclear program. Well that obviously didn't work. So what's the best stretegy for dealing with Iran? Letting them develop nuclear power seems to lead to a crazy leader with nuclear weapons. Again somehow North Korea is still Bush's fault... can't quite figure out how, but I'm sure Kos, DU, and their minions already have it all figured out.