N Korea blast not a nuclear explosion, says Powell

A massive explosion on September 9 in North Korea on the Chinese border was not a nuclear explosion, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said...

A massive explosion on September 9 in North Korea on the Chinese border was not a nuclear explosion, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said today.

‘‘It was no kind of nuclear event. We are trying to find out more about what exactly it was,’’ he said on Fox News.

Powell pointed out that six parties are involved in the talks, including the US, Japan and Russia, and all neighbours agree a test will do real harm.

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He said that all six parties, including North Korea, were committed to denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

He told NBC’s Meet the Press that ‘‘they haven’t conducted a test to the best of our knowledge and belief and the activity reported today is not conclusive that they’re getting ready to do one or not’’. A blast rocked North Korea’s Ryanggang province last week, triggering a mushroom cloud two miles in radius, South Korea’s Yonhap agency said today.

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