PRK-a BOOM!

Picture taken of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The bomb, nick-named "Fat Man" was equivalent to 21 kilotonnes of TNT. (Photo-U.S. National Archives)

According to Agence France Presse, some people are reserving judgment on North Korea's nuclear test until more information can be verified.

Scientists took a sceptical wait-and-see attitude after North Korea claimed to have successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday. Only careful analysis of data returned by seismic or atmospheric sensors will say whether the blast was a success or a damp squib, they said.

Nor could they rule out the possibility of a scam, in which North Korea blew up a huge stock of conventional explosives to bolster its claim to have joined the nuclear club.

Then there's the Bill O'Reilley factor.... Here he is speaking with his UN ambassador John Bolton*:

*[This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," October 9, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. -Fox News]

Mr. Ambassador, you're going to once again try to get some action against North Korea in the Security Council of the United Nations. But most Americans don't believe the U.N. has any, any will to do anything to right wrongs in the world. Are we too pessimistic?

[...]

But look, there's no action against Iran, even — you know, we had Secretary Rice on this program a few months ago in the summer. And she said boy, wait until the end of August when the Security Council meets. There's going to be lots of action against Iran. Zippo. Nothing. Iran's thumbing its nose at the world, causing us all kinds of trouble in Iraq, as you know.

Hey Bill, do you know who else is "causing all kinds of trouble in Iraq"? But let's give the good Ambassador the last spin:

On Iran, we have gone out of our way to allow the Europeans, at their request, to keep trying to negotiate with Iran, to keep trying to induce them to take the step that's critical for us to sit down with Iran, that Iran suspend all of its uranium enrichment activities.

So we've proven — we've gone the extra mile. We've gone several extra miles, so that President Bush can demonstrate that he wants a peaceful, diplomatic solution to this crisis...

Uh, he won't be able to "demonstrate" any such thing Johnny. But since in this day in age "claiming" to demonstrate is frequently sufficient, your point's well taken. I wonder if the bookmakers are taking any action on whether or not the American government (when as opposed to if it begins bombing Iran) will try to say that their maps show they should, in fact, be bombing Kim Jong Il? I've got a $100 just burning a hole in my head.

And I think you're right. I think both Iran and North Korea say, they got so many problems in Iraq, we can do whatever we want to do. -Bill O'Reilley