North Korea blames rival south over blast report

NORTH KOREA: North Korea yesterday accused rival South Korea of rushing to report a possible atomic explosion in the north so…

NORTH KOREA: North Korea yesterday accused rival South Korea of rushing to report a possible atomic explosion in the north so as to divert attention from its own current embarrassment over secret nuclear experiments.

South Korean media reported on Saturday that there had been a huge explosion in northern Ryanggang province, near the secretive communist state's border with China. Initial news items spoke of a mushroom cloud up to 4 km in diameter.

South Korea and other nations later played down any suggestion of a nuclear blast, suggesting instead some possible military accident. A senior North Korean official finally said yesterday the explosion blew up a mountain to clear the way for a hydro-electric dam.

"It first claimed that the explosion was presumed to be a nuclear test or a forest fire," said the official North Korean KCNA news agency in its first mention of an incident that made headlines around the world. "There has been no such accident as (an) explosion in the DPRK recently. Probably, plot-breeders might tell such a sheer lie, taken aback by blastings at construction sites of hydro-power stations in the north of Korea."

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Meanwhile, a British foreign office minister who is visiting North Korea said yesterday that the secretive Stalinist state would let Western diplomats visit the site of an explosion.

"Having asked the vice foreign minister this morning for our ambassador and other ambassadors to be allowed to visit the scene of the explosion, I am very pleased the North Koreans have agreed to the request," junior minister Mr Bill Rammell told journalists travelling with him.

His comments were reported in a pooled dispatch from the journalists, received in London.

Mr Rammell, on an unprecedented first visit by a British minister to North Korea, added that London's envoy Mr David Slinn might visit the site today.

He said the positive response to Britain's request came from North Korea's vice foreign minister for Europe, Mr Kung Sok Ung. - (Reuters)