Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=9/12/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=NOKOR/EXPLOSION (S-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-318930

BYLINE=LUIS RAMIREZ

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

///// EDS: Updates / changes dateline on CR2-318925. New thruout /////

HEADLINE: Japan Urges China to Prod North Korea on Nuclear Talks

INTRO: Japan is urging China to do more to get North Korea to attend a new round of multi-party talks on its nuclear programs this month. Meanwhile, there have been reports of a huge detonation in North Korea near the border with China. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from Beijing.

TEXT: South Korean media reported Sunday on the explosion, saying it sent up a mushroom cloud three-and-one-half-kilometers wide on Thursday, in North Korea, near a missile base.

South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young downplayed the significance.

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Mr. Chung says the cause of the blast is still to be determined, but he is doubtful it came from a North Korean nuclear-weapons test.

Meanwhile, Japan's foreign minister met with Chinese officials Sunday in Beijing, and urged them to do more to push North Korea back to the six-party talks on dismantling its nuclear programs.

Japanese spokesman Hatsushita Takashima said the explosion reports came up in conversations with the Chinese.

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"That was touched upon, . but they did not have any information, and we did not have any other information."

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News of the explosion comes amid intense speculation that North Korea might be preparing for its first nuclear-weapons test. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/LR/JJ/TW/RAE