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North Korea 'planning more blasts'


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File picture of the region where the blast is believed to have gone off.
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North Korea says cloud was the result of a deliberate demolition

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(CNN) -- North Korea is planning to carry out two more explosions as part of a hydroelectric power plant project after a major blast last week sparked speculation a nuclear test had taken place, Kyodo news agency has reported.

A North Korean engineer told a group of diplomats who visited the site that they had been carrying out deliberate detonations for several weeks, the German ambassador to Pyongyang said in a telephone interview.

Diplomats from Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Poland, and Sweden made the one-day trip to Yanggang province on Thursday to verify North Korea's statement that the explosions were deliberate.

The mystery began when a 4-kilometer (2 miles) wide mushroom cloud was spotted near the Chinese border on satellite images by South Korea's Yonhap agency.

Two blasts took place on September 8 and 9, according to the engineer, but the pictures were not seen until three days later.

The explosions moved 150,000 cubic meters of earth and rock, according to Doris Hertrampf, the German ambassador.

"It was a huge construction site, and I saw large movements of earth going on,'' Hertrampf said.

But the Polish ambassador to Pyongyang, Wojciech Kaluza, said the group had reached no conclusion about North Korea's explanations.

European Union diplomats will meet on Friday to discuss the issue further, Kyodo reported Kaluza as saying.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Reuters on Tuesday North Korea's explanation squared with Washington's view.

Some outside analysts speculated the explosion could have been at the Yongjo-ri Missile Base, a facility believed to house up to 36 NoDong missiles.

U.S. officials say there is no evidence that is true, though it cannot be completely ruled out.

According to data gathered by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Yongjo-ri is a suspected site for North Korea's uranium enrichment program.

South Korea skeptical too

On Tuesday South Korea's defense minister said the country was seeking independent verification on the nature of the blast.

Yoon Kwang-woong said the South would use intelligence channels and satellite images to check on the source of the blast in a northern region of the North.

Hydroelectric experts in Seoul have questioned the North's explanation, saying the relatively small Huchang river in the area made it an unlikely and unfeasible site for a major hydro power plant, according to Reuters reports.

The nation's media have also raised questions, with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoting a North Korean defector familiar with the region who said the body of water in the area was not sufficient for a large power plant.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency said late Monday that reports of a large accidental explosion at the site or a nuclear test was a "preposterous smear campaign."

"Probably, plot-breeders might tell such a sheer lie, taken aback by blastings at construction sites of hydropower stations in the north of Korea," KCNA said.


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