I was looking through my stats page (sorry, no public access) when I noticed a ridiculous amount of traffic to my post about the Ryongchon explosion, along with several search queries for various permutations of "north korea explosion." "But that I happened in April," I thought, "that's really old news." Then the obvious truth hit me, there must have been another explosion. Although the prevailing train of thought seems to be that it was not a nuclear test, the event has interesting implications, both for Asian geopolitics and the upcoming elections.
The commenters at NKZone seem to think that a North Korean nuclear test this close to November would give Bush the election. I disagree. During the last four years, Bush has ignored North Korea and various other problematic areas of the world. Despite the fact Americans may currently see him as a better fighter against terror, that perception could change if North Korea becomes a full-fledged nuclear power and starts threatening South Korea and Japan.
More extensive and comprehensive coverage at the Marmot, including evidence that the explosion was intentional.