https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...images-suggest
Quote:
North Korea appears to be preparing to conduct a nuclear test in a show of defiance towards Donald Trump, who has not ruled out military action to pressure the regime into abandoning its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
The US-based monitoring group 38 North said on Thursday that the satellite images from the North’s Punggye-ri site showed it was “primed and ready” for would be the country’s sixth nuclear test since 2006.
...
South Korean officials, however, played down speculation that a nuclear test was imminent. “There has been no unusual activity so far,” Roh Jae-chun, a spokesman for the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters, according to Yonhap news agency.
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Other links on this:
38North
New York Times
DPRK Weapons of Mass Destruction Wiki
In other news from the DPRK:
Kim Jong Un orders 600,000 out of Pyongyang
At first glance, this seems truly scary, but in the article it doesn't seem to be related to the nuclear test.
Quote:
“Population control was the pretext of the latest order,” said the source, who asked for anonymity, “but in reality, the purpose is to ‘purify’ the North Korean capital and allow only the loyal elite class to live there.”
Among those who were chosen by authorities to move are people whose relatives defected to South Korea, had been jailed in a prison camp, used drugs or counterfeit money, and produced, distributed or sold pirated films from the South.
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Many outlets reported China massing troops on the border with North Korea:
Business Insider
Yahoo Finance
Huffington Post had some details:
Quote:
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According to Beijing sources familiar with Chinese military information, most of them are 39th and 40th Army Groups, which are formed in the Northern Military District to guard against an unexpected situation of the Korea peninsula. The 39th Army Group is a heavy mechanized unit and the 40th is the rapid deployment force. Both of them boast the country’s best combat power and firepower.
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However, China and the US have disputed these reports.
Reuters:
Quote:
China's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that foreign media reports about a build-up of Chinese troops on its border with North Korea were "pure fabrication".
The ministry made the comment in a statement posted on its website.
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NBC News:
Quote:
Was there any substance to the rumor? Not according to senior U.S. military and intelligence officials. There was no "massing." As many as 250,000 Chinese troops are always operating in northeastern China, and the U.S. did not see any sign Beijing had moved them closer to the Yalu River, which separates North Korea from China.
Financial analysts were not surprised. Fake financial news has a longer history that any other kind of false reporting. ... There is money to be made before the news is proven true or false. The advent of social media and high-speed trading just adds to the possibilities.
One Pentagon official told NBC News, in language too profane to publish, that that's exactly what he thought happened with the China troop tale.
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If any of these are accurate or close-to-accurate, it will prove interesting to see how the United States and its new Administration chooses to respond.