ACCIDENT IN NORTH KOREA? – AT 10:49 A.M. ET:   There are reports from usually credible sources that North Korea has sustained a serious accident at a nuclear test site.  From Fox: 

About 200 people are feared dead in North Korea after underground tunnels at a nuclear test site that was feared to be unstable reportedly collapsed, crushing 100 people in the initial cave-in and 100 others when the tunnels again gave way on top of rescuers.

The collapse at the Punggye-ri test site on Oct. 10 occurred while people were doing construction on the underground tunnel, Japan’s Asahi TV reported, citing a source in North Korea. The television station also said North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3 most likely caused the tunnel to crumble and created serious damage in the region.

No officials have confirmed the Japanese TV station’s claims, but experts have feared for more than a month that the test site was on the verge of crumbling since the nuclear blast. North Korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb, calling it a “perfect success.” It was the country’s most powerful bomb tested to date and the blast was reportedly 10 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima at the end of World War II.

COMMENT:  This news comes as the president prepares to leave for Asia later in the week.  I assume the report that this was an "accident" is accurate.  How it afffects the North Korean nuclear program is an unknown.

There is some informed speculation that North Korea will try a new nuclear test or rocket launch while the president is in Asia, just to embarrass him.

October 31, 2017