Well, Shit. Just, Shit. Shit, Piss and Corruption, as my Dad Would Say

Breaking at MSNBC:

N. Korea says it conducted nuclear test

South Korea's president calls an emergency security session

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea defiantly declared Monday that it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test — a major provocation less than two months after launching a rocket widely believed to be a test of its long-range missile technology.

The regime also test-fired a short-range, ground-to-air missile Monday from that same northeastern launchpad, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources. South Korea's military said it was looking into the report.

North Korea, incensed by U.N. Security Council condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch, had warned last month that it would restart it rogue nuclear program, conduct an atomic test and carry out long-range missile tests.

On Monday, the country's official Korean Central News Agency said the regime "successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense."

The regime boasted that the test was conducted "on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control" than one carried out in 2006.

Russia, which shares a short border with North Korea, confirmed its facilities detected a nuclear test in northeastern North Korea, the ITAR-Tass news agency said, citing an unnamed Russian Defense Ministry official.

In Washington, a U.S. counter-proliferation official said there was reason to believe North Korea had conducted a nuclear test. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Raising the stakesMonday's tests raise the stakes in the tense international standoff over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

"If North Korea carried out a nuclear test, it would clearly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions," chief government spokesman Takeo Kawamura told reporters in Tokyo. "We will definitely not tolerate it."

Japan will request an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea, Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka said, according to the Kyodo news agency.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency security session. His spokesman, Lee Dong-kwan, confirmed that a North Korean nuclear test was possible.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Andy Laine said: "At this point, we've seen the reports and we're trying to get more information, but we're not able to confirm at this time." An official said the U.S. was gravely concerned by the claim and was analyzing the data.

North Korea did not say where or when the test took place. But seismologists from the U.S., South Korea and Japan reported activity shortly after 9:50 a.m. in a northeastern area where North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

An emergency siren sounded in the Chinese border city of Yanji, 130 miles northwest from the test site. A receptionist at Yanji's International Hotel said she and several hotel guests felt the ground tremble.

An official at Yanji's government seismological bureau, who declined to give his name, said his agency confirmed that some type of explosion occurred, "but it is hard to say what kind of blast it was."

Russian authorities were analyzing data to determine the force of the blast, ITAR-Tass said,
The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the seismic activity at magnitude-5.3. Quake expert Gen Aoki noted that its depth was "very shallow."

"The area is not active seismically so it is highly possible that it could be an artificial quake," Aoki said in Tokyo.

In Seoul, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources reported seismic activity in Kilju in North Hamgyong Province — the same area where North Korea carried out a nuclear test in October 2006.

Far stronger than 2006Seismological measurements back North Korea's claim that the test was far stronger than in 2006. The previous test measured magnitude-3.6, an official at the Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul said.

The reported test-fire of the short-range missile took place at the Musudan-ri launchpad on North Korea's northeast coast, Yonhap said. Sources described it as a ground-to-air missile with a range of 80 miles.

Japan's coast guard had said Friday that North Korea warned ships to steer clear of waters off a coastal city near the missile launch site, suggesting Pyongyang was preparing for a missile test. Yonhap also had reported brisk activity along the northeast coast over several days last week.

South Korean troops were on a high alert but there was no sign North Korean soldiers were massing along the heavily fortified border dividing the two nations, according to an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing agency policy.

The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006, drawing widespread international condemnation and drawing stiff sanctions from the U.N. Security Council.

The Security Council demanded that North Korea eliminate its nuclear weapons and ordered countries to prevent Pyongyang from importing or exporting any material for weapons of mass destruction or ballistic missiles.

The surprise nuclear test prompted five nations to pressure the North to agree to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for energy aid and other concessions — a pact Pyongyang signed in February 2007. North Korea began disablement in November 2007.

North Korea is believed to have at least a half-dozen atomic bombs. However, experts say North Korean scientists have not yet mastered the miniaturization technology for mounting a nuclear
device onto a long-range missile.