NoKo Rapid fire 10/11/06

• Not atomic: "A very well-placed government source told me Tuesday afternoon that the North Korean explosion was non-nuclear. The explosion may have been an actual nuclear test — this is unknown — but the source reports the outcome was non-nuclear. The source stressed the importance of bearing in mind that though the explosion occured in North Korea — if it was actually a test and not merely a dictator clamoring for attention and influence — the test may have been by or for the Iranians." (Michael Yon @ The Corner)

• Was North Korea’s Blast a Suitcase Nuke? Not Likely.
  As a jittery world fumbles to respond to the North Korean “atomic” test, Pajamas Media’s Washington Editor and terrorism expert Richard Miniter examines a subject not far from everybody’s mind - the suitcase nuclear bomb: “North Korea’s surprisingly small blast – estimated at less than one kiloton – has produced three reactions across the web. It was dud (or misfire), a fake (perhaps using a synchronized detonation of some 800 tons of TNT) or the world’s first suitcase-sized nuclear explosion.
  
  While one of the first two seems most likely, the third possibility is the most frightening… ” (continued)
  

• North Korean official: Strict sanctions mean war; Update: Japan imposes sanctions