It is common knowledge that on October 9, 2006 North Korea tested a small nuclear bomb. But there is debate as to whether or not this was the first atomic bomb test done in Korea. Ever since the end of World War II there have been rumors that Japan, just days before its surrender, tested a small atomic bomb off the coast of modern Hamheung.
I came across this story while doing research on one of my Western gold miners in northern Korea. This gold miner used to take his gold to the smelter at Konan – in the Hamheung area – and the story eventually encompassed other Westerners working at the this Japanese industrial center including one who, after he returned to the United States, was arrested by the FBI following the attack on Pearl Harbor. This scientist was deemed so valuable that he was allowed to continue to work in a top secret plant and was eventually one of the scientists sent to Korea to investigate the possibility of Japan building and testing an atomic bomb in Korea.
This story always starts the same way – regardless of who publishes it – so why should I be any different?
Allegedly, on the evening of August 11, 1945, a number of ancient ships, junks and fishing boats were anchored near a small inlet by the Japanese. Just before dawn on August 12, a remote controlled launch carrying the atomic bomb known as “genzai bakudan” (greatest fighter), slowly made its way through the assembled fleet and beached itself.
Nearly twenty miles away, observers wearing welders’ glasses were blinded by the bomb’s terrific blast. “The ball of fire was estimated to be 1,000 yards in diameter. A multicolored cloud of vapors boiled towards the heavens then mushroomed in the stratosphere. The churn of water and vapor obscured the vessels directly under the burst. Ships and junks on the fringe burned fiercely at anchor. When the atmosphere cleared slightly the observers could detect several vessels had vanished.”
For those who are interested – you can read the rest of the story here….at Korea Times.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
threadjack
NK screwed in World Cup (unless they bring grenades to the pitch); SK kinda tough; US probably OK.
/threadjack
Mr. Nambukstory will be sad.
I dunno ’bout dis story…
My “spidey sense” is tingling…
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dSZ36A0-GBI/SGV3o_j09mI/AAAAAAAABDg/PBm1f3YogFw/s400/bullshit_detector4.gif
I’ll cop to not knowing the first thing about nuclear physics, but given the radiation debris that this kind of explosion would have left behind, I’d think this is the kind of thing that could be tested for, even decades after the fact.
DLB
This is a really good journal article I yanked off of InformaWorld – Intelligence and National Security. I uploaded it to mediafire if any of you want to read it.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/nyyymmznl0n/Hungnam and the Japanese atomic bomb.pdf
Well, you have to go with the more likely answer, which is misidentification. Like most UFO cases. I mean, is it easier to believe that a highly advanced Alien race would find us lowly humans all that interesting that they would send literally thousands of ships to come investigate us OR… are most UFO cases misidentified clouds, balloons, planes, optical illusions, hoaxes, etc.
So… IMHO this is another case of misidentification. Either the Japanese were testing a very big conventional bomb or maybe an early version of a fuel-air bomb, which also create fiery mushroom clouds. But an atomic bomb? Well, in order for Japan to make one of those they need a Manhattan Project and something like that is sooooo huge, there is no way to hide it after the war…
As KrZ and WangKon936 point out, it would be nearly impossible for the Japanese to have developed the bomb in WWII. The actual assembling of the bomb (for example, “Little Boy” – which essentially fired one piece of U-235 into another like a gun) is pretty simple. It’s the act of creating fissionable material into bomb grade quality which is the tough part (ask the Iranians).
The centrifuges the Iranians have all over their country are key to separating the U-238 (which is relatively easy to come by) into U-235 which is needed to create a bomb. This takes a lot of skill and effort, even to create a small amount. So it would be surprising if the Japanese had the wherewithal to do this, especially in 1945 when they were essentially bombed into the stone age by us.
It says a lot that the Korea Times will publish this as if it is a serious question for history. I guess it is just too tempting to assert that if the Japanese had an atomic bomb they must have used it first on Korea.
The Nazis didn’t nuke the Jews. Congratulations Koreans, you win!
Wow.
I cannot help but wonder if the article stems from a desperate attempt to yet again prove that korea is the victim of japan. I’d like to think not, but this is pretty far out there.
Conventional ordinance, with a mixture of counter intelligence, perhaps. But an actual atomic weapon? Considering that the US had just used the only two nukes it had after years of development with much more advanced resources and brains at their disposal, it seems astronomically unlikely.
I don’t think that Robert Neff is motivated by any such desperation. On the other hand, and his actual article fairly summarizes the pros and cons of the issue, pretty clearly indicating that the nays have it. On the other hand, the KT headlining is a good example of what used to be called “yellow journalism”; I guess this just gives an interesting additional connotation.
If this was true then Koreans have more reason to hate Japan. Let’s drop another atomic bomb on Japan as retribution.
“Let’s”??? Were you involved with the first two?
@ # 9,
I don’t get it.
@WK
because of the frequent uneven comparisons between Japanese occupation of Korea and the Holocaust.
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