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Report: N.Korea Says Explosion Was Planned
49 minutes ago
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea (news - web sites) said Monday that the large explosion near its border with China several days ago was a "deliberate detonation of a mountain" as part of a hydroelectric project, the BBC reported.
The reclusive communist regime responded to a request for information from British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell, who is visiting Pyongyang, the British Broadcasting Corp. quoted Rammell as saying.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Saturday that an explosion in North Korea on Thursday produced a mushroom-shaped cloud more than two miles in diameter.
The magnitude and timing of the blast, which coincided with the 56th anniversary of North Korea's founding, raised concern it might be the result of a nuclear test.
But South Korean and U.S. officials said Sunday that that did not appear to be the case, adding they were still trying to ascertain the cause of the cloud.
In an interview with the BBC, Rammell said North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun told him "that it wasn't an accident, that it wasn't a nuclear explosion, that it was a deliberate detonation of a mountain as part of a hydroelectric project."
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