WHILE NORTH KOREA claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear weapon this week, according to the Washington Times, U.S. officials remain skeptical. But whatever it was that the North Koreans exploded underneath a mountain, the blast registered somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.0 on the Richter scale, which probably translates to a yield of less than 1 kiloton, or the equivalent of 1,000 tons of conventional explosives. Of course, estimating yields is a science of “considerable imprecision” according to John Pike, the founder and director of globalsecurity.org, who cautioned against drawing any conclusive assessments of North Korea’s success or failure.
For its part, the New York Times described the yield as “fairly small by traditional standards, and possibly a failure or a partial success.” The paper justified this verdict by basing it on the fact that “the first detonations of aspiring nuclear powers have tended to pack the destructive power of 10,000 to 60,000 tons . . . of conventional high explosives.” But viewing the North Korean test in that context may be misleading.
