North Korea confirms third nuclear test

[FailureToCommunicate]

8. David Sanger- NYT: "North Korea Confirms It Conducted 3rd Nuclear Test"

WASHINGTON — North Korea confirmed on Tuesday that it had conducted its third, long-threatened nuclear test, according to the official KCNA news service, posing a new challenge for the Obama administration in its effort to keep the country from becoming a full-fledged nuclear power.

The KCNA said it used a “miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously” and that the test “did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment.

Preliminary estimates by South Korea suggested the test was much more powerful than the previous two conducted by the North.

-snip-

It may take days or weeks to determine independently if the test, was successful. American officials will also be looking for signs of whether the North, for the first time, conducted a test of a uranium weapon, based on a uranium enrichment capability it has been pursuing for a decade. The past two tests used plutonium, reprocessed from one of the country’s now-defunct nuclear reactors. While the country has only enough plutonium for a half-dozen or so bombs, it can produce enriched uranium well into the future.



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-test.html?hp

That last graph contains the most troubling part of the report...