North Korea said a large explosion several days ago was a planned demolition for a hydro-electric project, the BBC reported on Monday.
North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun said the blast was intentional following a request for information from British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell, who is visiting Pyongyang, the British Broadcasting Corporation said on its website.
South Korean and United States officials said on Sunday that a huge mushroom cloud that reportedly billowed up from North Korea on Thursday was not caused by a nuclear explosion, but that the cause was a mystery.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that a mammoth explosion in North Korea produced a mushroom cloud more than three kilometres across. It said the blast was stronger than an April explosion that killed 160 people and injured an estimated 1 300 at a North Korean railway station when a train carrying oil and chemicals apparently hit power lines.
The huge size of the explosion on Thursday, the 56th anniversary of the foundation of North Korea, had raised speculation that it might be a nuclear test.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was no indication it was.
China’s government, which has the closest relations with North Korea, had no immediate comment about the reported explosion.
The United States, Russia, Japan, China and the two Koreas have held talks on North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons development, and they agreed to hold another round of negotiations in Beijing this month. No date has been set.
The United States has pushed for North Korea to fully disclose all of its nuclear activities and allow outside monitoring before it receives any assistance.
North Korea wants energy aid, lifting of economic sanctions and removal from its inclusion on Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.
On ”Fox News Sunday,” Powell expressed skepticism North Korea would stage a nuclear test explosion.
The North Koreans ”know this would not be a sensible step for them to take,” he said.
”And it is not just the reaction that they might see in the United States; it’s their own neighbours.”
But another senior Bush administration official said on condition of anonymity that the United States has received indications North Korea might be trying to test a nuclear weapon.
On Saturday, North Korea said recent revelations that South Korea conducted secret nuclear experiments involving uranium and plutonium made the communist state more determined to pursue its own nuclear programmes.
The South Korean experiments in 1982 and 2000, which the South said did not reflect an attempt to develop weapons, are likely to further complicate six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear development. ‒ Sapa-AP
Mushroom cloud riddle