North Korea Accuses South Korea of `Smear Campaign

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North Korea accused South Korea of mounting a ``smear campaign'' over an explosion last week in North Korea that prompted speculation of a nuclear test. The South Korean government made ``much ado'' about the explosion to divert attention from its recent statements acknowledging it carried out uranium tests, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement.

``The story about the explosions is nothing but sheer fabrication intended to divert elsewhere the world public attention focused on the nuclear-related issue of South Korea for which they are now finding themselves in a dire fix,'' the news agency said. ``This is a preposterous smear campaign.'' North Korea's government said yesterday the explosion was caused by the demolition of a mountain as part of a hydroelectric project and invited diplomats from countries including the U.K. to visit the site. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported at the weekend the blast created a mushroom cloud as wide as 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), citing unidentified diplomats in Seoul.

``It was first claimed that the explosion was presumed to be a nuclear test or a forest fire,'' the Korean Central News Agency said. ``There has been no such accident. Probably, plot-breeders might tell a sheer lie, taken aback by blastings at construction sites of hydropower stations in the north.'' The explosion occurred in Kimhyongjik-gun, located in Ryanggang province close to the border with China, Yonhap said on Sunday, citing the diplomats.

Nuclear Agency

The International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday reprimanded South Korea for not declaring uranium enrichment activities it carried out and said it will treat the revelation with the ``seriousness it deserved.''South Korea acknowledged last month its scientists had enriched uranium in 2000 without the government's knowledge. IAEA member countries must declare any uranium enrichment activities. The South Korean government also acknowledged conducting a test on plutonium in 1982.

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[Bhaisahab]

1. These north korean press writers

sure can let it rip. they write very good english. and they have a bloggish kind of humor. remember when they called rumsfeld a "psychopath on his deathbed" and bush a "shameless charlatan" and a "misanthrope"? cool stuff.
i wish they would say something abt cheney....