Rhee Bong Jo

Seismic signals and strange cloud formations picked up were not from an explosion, Rhee said.

Initial reports had even suggested a nuclear test could have been responsible for a mushroom cloud spotted over the North.

Foreign diplomats who visited Sept. 16 what they were told was the site of the mysterious explosion said it was a hydroelectric project under construction. South Korea said they were in the wrong place.

South Korea said the diplomats had been about 100 km away from the suspected location in remote Kimhyungjik county on the Chinese border. But the story became even more convoluted when Rhee said there had been no blast at all.

"There is no information to support an explosion in the area where there were indications of an explosion," Rhee said.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 25, 2004
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