ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
May 7, 2018
Geologists say North Korea’s
nuclear test site likely collapsed
By Christopher Bodeen
The Associated Press
EIJING — Research by
Chinese geologists suggests
that the mountain above
North Korea’s main nuclear test site
has likely collapsed, rendering it
unsafe for further testing and
requiring that it be monitored for any
leaking radiation.
The findings by the scientists at the
University of Science and Technology
of China may shed new light on North
Korean President Kim Jong Un’s
announcement that his country was
ceasing its testing program ahead of
the summit meetings with South
Korean President Moon Jae-in and
U.S. President Donald Trump.
The results also support some of
the findings of an earlier study by
another group of Chinese researchers
that was published in March by the
journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Nuclear
explosions
release
enormous amounts of heat and
energy, and the North’s largest test in
September was believed early on to
have rendered the site in north-
eastern North Korea unstable.
Chinese authorities say they’ve
detected no radiation risk from
samples collected along the border.
Calls to those departments were not
immediately answered.
The data in the latest Chinese
study was collected following the
most powerful of North Korea’s six
nuclear device tests on September 3,
which is believed to have triggered
four earthquakes over the following
weeks. The yield of the bomb was
estimated at more than 100 kilotons
of TNT, at least 10 times stronger
than anything the North had tested
previously. (The bomb the United
States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945
had a yield of about 15 kilotons.)
The University of Science and
Technology of China paper, authored
by Tian Dongdong, Yao Jiawen, and
Wen Lianxing, said the first of those
earthquakes, which occurred 8½
minutes after the explosion, was “an
onsite collapse toward the nuclear
test center,” while those that followed
were an “earthquake swarm” in
similar locations.
“In view of the research finding
B
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left,
and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, shake hands at the bor-
der village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone on Friday, April 27,
2018. A day after the leaders of the two Koreas met for a summit along
their shared border, the emotional, memorable, even funny scenes from
their time together were both a bitter reminder of the countries’ seven
decades of division and an insight into the mysterious character of North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)
Summit offers South Koreans
rare insight into Kim Jong Un
Continued from page 2
men kept pace, running
fast as they enveloped the
leader. When Kim rolled
back to the North after a
farewell ceremony that
night, the bodyguards
reappeared
and
ran
alongside his car again.
A North Korean security
worker was also seen
spraying disinfectant on
the chair and table to be
used by Kim at the Peace
House while another used a
headphone and a black,
square-shaped piece of
equipment to check for
explosives, according to
South
Korean
media
reports.
Kim’s sister
Kim’s younger sister,
Kim Yo Jong, took a
prominent role in the
summit. She handed her
brother a pen when he
signed the guestbook, and
took his gloves after he
shovelled
dirt
on
a
ceremonial tree and a
bouquet of flowers that he’d
been handed at the border.
During the meeting with
Moon, she sat next to her
brother, scribbling notes.
Her proximity to her
brother during most of the
summit
events
added
credence to speculation
that she’s virtually the
No.2 in the North. Kim sent
his sister to South Korea in
February to attend the
opening ceremony of the
PyeongChang
Winter
Olympics, making her the
first member of the North’s
ruling family to visit the
South since the end of the
Korean War.
Kim acknowledged his
sister’s popularity in South
Korea when he joked to
Moon during their talks
that she has become a “star
in the South,” causing her
face to turn red, according
to Moon’s spokesman, Yoon
Young-chan.
Private chats
Another striking mo-
ment came when Kim and
Moon
chatted
while
strolling slowly to a
footbridge in Panmunjom,
where a rusty signboard
marking
the
military
demarcation line stands.
There they sat, engaging in
about 30 minutes of private
conversation. It wasn’t
clear what the leaders
talked about. The chirping
of birds was all that could
be heard on the live
television footage.
When they returned to
the Peace House, they
chatted again, but their
conversation was largely
inaudible.
Joint announcement
The two leaders’ close
body language was also on
display. They held each
other’s hands and raised
them into the air and
hugged each other after
signing their names on
what they called the
Panmunjom Declaration, a
joint statement following
their summit. They also
stood at a podium together
outside the Peace House
and jointly announced the
deal in front of officials and
pool reporters.
The declaration has lots
of accords on improving
inter-Korean
ties
and
exchange programs, but
lacks any major progress in
a U.S.-led international
effort to end the North
Korean nuclear standoff.
Intoxicated Kim
During a dinner ban-
quet, Kim appeared a little
drunk, his face red, his eyes
unfocused. He didn’t wear
his horn-rimmed glasses as
what appeared to be
champagne was placed on
the table before him. Kim’s
wife, Ri Sol Ju, and Moon’s
wife, Kim Jung-sook, also
joined the banquet.
Kim is a big fan of French
wine and once drank 10
bottles of Bordeaux in
one night, according to
media reports citing the
Kim family’s former sushi
chef.
NUCLEAR REACTION. Earthquake and Volcano of the Korea Monitoring Division director
Ryoo Yong-gyu speaks to the media about North Korea’s artificial earthquake with a map of the Ko-
rean peninsular in Seoul, South Korea in this September 3, 2017 file photo. A study by Chinese ge-
ologists shows the mountain above North Korea‘s main nuclear test site has collapsed under the
stress of the explosions, rendering it unsafe for further testing and necessitating monitoring for any
leaking radiation. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
that the North Korea nuclear test site and leading to a backlash among
at Mantapsan has collapsed, it is some Chinese against their country’s
necessary to continue to monitor any unpredictable traditional ally.
Ties between the sides have been
leakage of radioactive materials that
may have been caused by the deteriorating for years, although Kim
collapse,” the authors said in a made a long-anticipated visit to
summary dated April 23 and viewed Beijing last month after China’s
implementation of United Nations
April 25 on the university’s website.
The study is peer-reviewed and has economic sanctions reduced trade
been accepted for publication by between them by as much as 90
percent.
Geophysical Research Letters.
The quakes that followed the
The Chinese study makes sense
and is based on well understood September test were not manmade
research, said Rowena Lohman, a and didn’t appear to cause any
seismologist at Cornell University damage in the area. The region isn’t
who wasn’t part of the work. She said one where earthquakes naturally
she believes there’s an international occur and no quakes were detected
effort that monitors these tests for after the five smaller nuclear tests
North Korea has conducted since
radiation.
A study published in March by the 2006.
Kune Yull Suh, a professor of
journal, authored by a team led by
engineering
at
Seoul
Liu Junqing at the earthquake nuclear
bureau in Jilin province along the National University, warned last
border with North Korea, found year that further tests could threaten
similar results of the September 3 to cause a volcanic eruption at Mount
explosion. It described the aftershock Paektu, which is about 60 miles
that followed seconds later as most away.
North Korea recently announced it
likely a “rapid destruction of an
explosion-generated cracked rock will close its nuclear testing facility
and
suspend
nuclear
and
chimney due to cavity collapse.”
North Korea’s nuclear tests are of intercontinental ballistic missile
special concern to Beijing, since the tests — a move welcomed by Trump
test site near the town of Kilju is less as “big progress” — and which came
than 60 miles from the border with ahead of the summit between him
and Kim.
China.
However, the North stopped short
North Korean nuclear tests have
caused seismic events in Chinese of suggesting it will give up its
border towns and cities, forcing nuclear weapons or scale back its
evacuations of schools and offices, production of missiles and their
sparking fears of wind-born radiation related components.
Peppa Pig wins street cred, attracts censors in China
By Yanan Wang
The Associated Press
EIJING — A cherubic British cartoon character
has become an unlikely target of China’s censors
as fans use her porcine likeness in rap videos and
“gangster” tattoos.
The bright pink swine’s subversive alter-ego has made
her a viral hit but also an apparent target of government
workers who police the internet.
Videos with the hashtag #PeppaPig could not be
searched on Douyin, a popular video app. The
catchphrase, “Get a tattoo of Peppa Pig, give a round of
applause to gangsters,” was also not searchable on the
Weibo microblogging platform, which posted a message
saying it was acting “in accordance with relevant legal
regulations.”
Regulators have been ratcheting up control over
Chinese blogs and apps in recent months. A controversial
cybersecurity law was introduced last June as part of
President Xi Jinping’s efforts to tighten control over what
China’s public can see and say online while still trying to
reap the economic benefits of internet use.
It was not clear whether the censorship of Peppa on
Douyin was prompted by a government mandate.
Bytedance saw its social-networking app Neihan
Duanzi shut down by the State Administration of Radio
and Television. The app was a hub for GIFs, memes, and
B
often vulgar humor the authorities deemed “unhealthy.”
The company’s chief executive, Zhang Yiming, said in an
apologetic statement at the time that he would increase
the size of the content-monitoring team to 10,000
employees.
Chinese media said there had been at least 30,000 clips
under Peppa’s hashtag on Douyin. Variations on the
name, such as “PigPig” or “PeppaPeppa” are still
searchable.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Douyin denied
that it has “banned” Peppa Pig. But a source close to the
company who spoke on condition of anonymity because he
was not authorized to speak on its behalf said Douyin
removed some user-generated videos featuring Peppa Pig
that the company deemed inappropriate.
Internet users have aligned Peppa with the culture of
shehuiren — literally “society people” — which connotes a
gangster attitude and street smarts.
The Global Times, a state-run newspaper, wrote that
the moniker “refers to people who run counter to the
mainstream value and are usually poorly educated with
no stable job. They are unruly slackers roaming around
and the antithesis of the young generation the (ruling
Communist) Party tries to cultivate.”
The party newspaper People’s Daily likewise warned
that Peppa “should not be allowed to destroy children’s
childhoods.” It noted that Peppa has been used to sell
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