By Reuben Staines
Staff Reporter

Seoul on Thursday rejected concerns that the United States has been reluctant to share intelligence with the South Korean government over last week’s mysterious explosion in North Korea’s Ryanggang Province.

``We are closely cooperating with the U.S. on the North Korea issue,’’ Ban Ki-moon, minister of foreign affairs and trade, told reporters during a briefing.

The statement came as a delegation of foreign diplomats boarded a chartered flight from Pyongyang to inspect the site of the explosion, which North Korea claims was a controlled blast to clear rock as part of a hydroelectric dam project.

Responding to criticism that the government was slow to react to the explosion and elicit help from the U.S. in determining its cause, Ban said the two allies are exchanging intelligence freely.

``After noticing signs of something going on in the North, we provided our information to the U.S., and Washington also gave us their intelligence reports,’’ he said.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young also dismissed anxieties over the explosion, telling the National Assembly that it is ``not a security issue.’’

Conservative opposition parties have often claimed that the left-leaning administration of President Roh Moo-hyun has strained the nation’s military alliance with the U.S. They argue this contributed to Washington’s decision to withdraw one-third of its troops from the Korean peninsula and has also weakened the sharing of intelligence on the communist North.

Reports of a massive mushroom-shaped cloud on Sept. 9 hanging over Yongjo-ri near North Korea’s border with China initially triggered speculation that Pyongyang had tested a nuclear weapon, but Seoul and Washington quickly ruled out the possibility.

The National Intelligence Service on Wednesday said North Korea’s claim that the blast was an intentional detonation to demolish rock is plausible, adding that mushroom-shaped cloud on satellite images may simply have been an unusual weather pattern.

South Korea has struggled to confirm the cause of the explosion, with images captured by its Arirang No. 1 satellite failing to shed light on the situation due to their low resolution.

But curiosity surrounding the explosion is likely to be satisfied soon, as the group of diplomats led by David Slinn, British ambassador to Pyongyang, was yesterday scheduled to inspect the scene.

Embassy officials said the group, possibly consisting of representatives from Britain, Germany, Poland, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Mongolia, departed Pyongyang at 8 a.m.

A one-hour plane ride and three-hour drive would take them to the remote site in the mountainous border region, they said.

However, heavy rain meant it was uncertain if the delegation would return to Pyongyang last night or today.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry reportedly placed no limits on the diplomats carrying radiation detectors and Slinn earlier said it was cooperating fully to arrange the trip.

Meanwhile, an official at the Korean Aerospace Research Institute, which operates the Arirang satellite, told The Korea Times that high-definition U.S. military satellites would likely be able to determine the nature of the explosion.

He said the U.S.’ KH-12, which took photos of April’s explosion in Ryongchon, North Korea, can detect objects as small as 30 centimeters, compared with the Arirang’s 6.6 meter resolution.

Seoul officials would not confirm whether they had received images of the Ryanggang Province site taken by the KH-12.

rjs@koreatimes.co.kr