{"id":5102,"date":"2016-09-09T10:59:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T15:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=5102"},"modified":"2016-09-09T10:59:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T15:59:48","slug":"north-korean-nuclear-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2016\/09\/09\/north-korean-nuclear-test\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korean Nuclear Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

In light of today’s North Korean nuclear test, 38 North<\/strong><\/em>‘s report<\/a> on renewed activity at all three portals of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site is jonny-on-the-spot:<\/p>\n

Recent commercial satellite imagery from August 27 shows new activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Notably, a small number of mining carts are visible on or near the tailings piles at both the North and West Portals; the tailings pile at the West Portal has expanded and new tracks for mining carts have been laid; and a small building has been erected to the southwest of the South Portal. Overall, this activity indicates that maintenance and minor excavation operations have resumed at Punggye-ri. However, it is unclear if this activity is directly related to preparations for a fifth nuclear test.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, CNN<\/strong><\/em> speculates<\/a> as to the purpose of the test:<\/p>\n

Rather than a bargaining chip used to gain more foreign aid or access to the world stage, it appears that the country’s nuclear weapons program boils down to a matter of dignity and national pride.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But I wonder if one of the aspects of this test is manipulation of the American election. As noted here<\/a>, North Korea applauds the candidacy of Donald Trump. A menacing act, such as firing a nuclear weapon, could be an attempt to discredit the Obama Administration and, by extension, Hillary’s campaign, leaving Donald as the only viable candidate in many American voters’ minds. Adding a dash of irony, the American public would expect Donald to be the tough guy, forgetting (or never knowing) that Donald has mused on removing American troops from South Korea if Seoul doesn’t carry more of the financial burden. This would fulfill North Korea’s dream, as they themselves admit.<\/p>\n

Knock-on effects would include the recession following Trump’s election, as predicted by most economists, for if it were occur it would throw a shadow over the entire liberal democracy government model for which Kim Jong-un has such antipathy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In light of today’s North Korean nuclear test, 38 North‘s report on renewed activity at all three portals of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site is jonny-on-the-spot: Recent commercial satellite imagery from August 27 shows new activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Notably, a small number of mining carts are \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5103,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5102\/revisions\/5103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}