North Korea May Have Conducted Another Nuclear Test

Update: 8:21PM
Should have mentioned I got that wire story (below) via Drudge. The latest: Japan's announcement of a second test was apparently triggered by a 6.0 earthquake. [Earthquake sets off Nuke Alarms? Sounds like the plot for a movie.]

Per Reuters:

N.Korea may have conducted another nuclear test: NHKTue Oct 10, 2006 7:42 PM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea appears to have conducted another nuclear test, Japanese national broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday.

Japanese government sources had information that there was a tremor in North Korea this morning and they were checking on the possibility of a nuclear test, NHK said.

Defying warnings from its neighbors, the United States and the U.N. Security Council, North Korea announced on Monday that it had conducted its first-ever nuclear test. Pyongyang had earlier said a U.S. "threat of nuclear war and sanctions" had forced its hand.

Not that this has anything to do with the financial markets (since none seem to care), but it sure seems like NK's Kim wants to get some attention.

PS Wish I had saved the piece, but I read somewhere after the first test, which apparently registered as a relatively small explosion, that it may have been small due to it's design to sit atop a rocket. I believe it was the folks at Stratfor wondering if it was a test of a "weapon" vs. "device". A weapon would have to be smaller and more rugged, while a device can be any size required to get the hoped for test result (big bang). The implication that they have successfully tested a "weapon" would seem serious in my non-expert opinion.