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Comment by bitL | Hacker News Reader

So Kim's nuclear test site collapsed, likely destroying years of work, necessary equipment and possibly hit trained human personnel, so he suddenly went on a "tour for peace". Can't say I am unhappy.

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That's not how underground nuclear testing works. The bombs are not developed or stored inside the mountain where they test. There would have been no one inside the mountain during the test. The mountain collapsed during the test. Kim probably thinks that his bombs are powerful enough and reliable enough for him to have a strong negotiating position.

Unless the blast was much stronger and hit distant equipment never meant to be affected which is difficult to replace. Of course the bombs aren't developer/stored at a test site, but without proper test site they still might not be entirely usable in an ICBM or in a submarine, and too large to fit into a bomber to pose any non-local threat.

Is this a known fact or hypothesis?

As close to known fact as you can get without inspecting the site in person. It started with warnings from Chinese geologists last fall [1], was followed by unofficial news of a partial collapse which left 200 tunnel workers dead [2][3], and then by papers by two different groups concluding that the site has collapsed [4].

[1] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2117340/chine...

[2] https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/873443/north-korea-nucl...

[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-01/about-200...

[4] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43894394

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