France: Claimed N.Korea Nuke Test Failed (AP)

[Eugene]

France: Claimed N.Korea Nuke Test Failed


Wednesday October 11, 2006 9:16 PM

AP Photo VMI102

By JAMEY KEATEN

Associated Press Writer

PARIS (AP) - France said outright for the first time Wednesday
that North Korea's proclaimed nuclear test produced such a small
blast that it must have failed, and analysts warned such challenging
talk could lead Pyongyang to try again.

World powers stepped up a hunt for clues about the insular communist
regime's test, with Britain sending refueling jets to join Japanese
aircraft trawling the skies for any traces of radiation.

-snip-

France's Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said French, American
and other scientists had detected a blast of "relatively limited size."

"In any case, if this was a nuclear explosion, it would be a case of a
failed explosion," she said on Europe-1 radio.

Such speculation about a dud test could be read as a challenge by Kim
Jong Il, the North's reclusive leader, to consider carrying out a second
test to prove naysayers wrong, analysts said.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6140759,00.html

Note: The article says that it may take weeks or months to find out
what really happened.

[Alacrat]

1. If they thought it was successful,

they would go ahead surrender to NK.:rofl:





This is a joke, I have the up most respect for France.:toast: