N. Korea's 2nd nuclear test site pinpointed in new study

(ATTN: satellite photo available)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- Two U.S.-based scientists say they've located the site
of North Korea's second nuclear test held last year more precisely than ever
before, pinpointing it near Mount Mantap just 2 kilometers off the place where
the first test had been conducted in 2006.

Lianxing Wen, a geophysics professor at the State University of New York in
Stonybrook, and his graduate student, Hui Long, located the epicenter of the
North's second nuclear test on May 5 last year with a margin of error of only 140
meters, compared with 3.8 kilometers achieved by the U.S. Geological Survey last
year, according to their joint study published in the January-February edition
of Seismological Research Letters of the Seismological Society of America.
Identifying the coordinates of the 2009 test site as 41°17???38.14???N latitude
and 129°4???54.21???E longitude, the scientists said their findings should help
Asian monitors to pinpoint the location of another nuclear test should the North
Korea ever decide to ahead with one.
North Korea conducted its first underground nuclear test in October 9, 2006 in
Punggye-ri in its northeastern county of Kilju, according to U.S. and South
Korean officials.
"We locate the 2009 test at 723 meters north and 2,235 meters west of the 2006
test," the scientists said in the study.
Wen and Long said they analyzed the seismic waves from the first nuclear test to
understand the geological complexities of the earth in the region, and used the
data to reduce the uncertainty involved in determining the ground zero of the
second test.
"The strategy is not to try to fully understand the complexities of the jungle
(earth), but to take advantage of the forensic evidence of the jungle
complexities that are imprinted in the recordings" of the first nuclear test, the
scientists said in a separate introduction to their thesis.
An email seeking an interview with Wen was not immediately returned.
The waveforms from the first test were obtained from nine seismic stations based
in Japan, South Korea and China, the study said.
North Korea conducted its second nuclear test amid a deadlock in international
talks aimed at stripping it of its nuclear ambitions, raising tensions and
inviting harsh U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
The study "identifies the seismic coverage, needed and available for future
monitoring of North Korea's nuclear tests," the scientists said. "High-precision
location would reveal, in real time and at great accuracy, an increasingly
complete view of the geographic network of a nation's nuclear test
infrastructure."
North Korea has in recent months toned down its belligerent rhetoric and hinted
that it is willing to return to multinational talks over its nuclear weapons
programs. South Korean defense officials say the communist country continues to
operate nuclear-related facilities, including underground bunkers, in Kilju.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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