North Korea quake sparks debate

Beijing calls it a suspected explosion but Seoul dismisses it as being natural

BEIJING: China’s seismic service CENC detected a zero-depth, 3.4-magnitude earthquake in North Korea, calling it a “suspected explosion”.

The epicentre is roughly the same as that of a previous shallow earthquake on Sept 3, which turned out to be caused by a North Korean nuclear test, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

There seemed to be some initial difference of opinion, however, with Seoul’s Korea Meteorological Agency (KMA) saying that it had registered a tremor of a similar size, but judged it a “natural quake”.

The earthquake comes after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions that has raised international alarm.

It also comes amid soaring tensions over Pyongyang’s weapons programme, with the firing of two missiles over Japan in recent weeks and its sixth and largest nuclear test earlier this month.

The Sept 3 test was North Korea’s most powerful detonation, triggering a much stronger 6.3-magnitude quake that was felt across the border in China.

This week marked a new level of acrimony in a blistering war of words between Jong-un and Trump, with the North Korean leader calling the American president “mentally deranged” and a “dotard”.

Trump has dubbed Jong-un a “madman” and sought to ratchet up sanctions against the isolated regime, which says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself against the threat of invasion.

Pyongyang later said it had tested a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted onto a missile – an assertion that no foreign government has so far confirmed.

The move prompted global condemnation, leading the UN Security Council to unanimously adopt new sanctions that include restrictions on oil shipments.

Hydrogen bombs, or H-bombs, are thermonuclear weapons far more powerful than ordinary fission-based atomic bombs, and use a nuclear blast to generate the intense temperatures required for fusion to take place.

Jong-un on Friday threatened the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history” in a tirade against Trump’s warning that Washington would “totally destroy” the North if the US or its allies were threatened.

Monitoring groups estimate that the nuclear test conducted in North Korea earlier this month had a yield of 250 kilotons, which is 16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

Washington announced tougher restrictions on Friday aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme, building on the new tough UN sanctions aimed to choke Pyongyang of cash.

Russia and China have both appealed for an end to the escalating rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang.

But on the fringes of the UN meeting this week, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yongho upped the tensions further, telling reporters Pyongyang might now consider detonating a hydrogen bomb outside its territory.

China also announced yesterday that it would limit energy supplies to North Korea and stop buying its textiles under the UN sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile development, further reducing support from Pyongyang’s last ally.

Exports of refined petroleum to the North will be limited to two million barrels per year, effective Jan 1, the Commerce Ministry said in Beijing. Sales of liquefied natural gas are banned outright.

North Korea depends on China for almost all its oil and gas but estimates of its consumption are low, leaving it unclear how Beijing’s new limit will affect them. The restrictions announced yesterday do not apply to crude oil, which makes up the biggest share of energy exports to the North.

China will also ban textile imports from the North, the ministry said. Textiles are believed to be the North’s biggest source of foreign revenue following rounds of UN sanctions under which Beijing cut off purchases of coal,

iron ore, seafood and other goods.

China accounts for some 90% of the North’s trade, making its cooperation critical to efforts to derail Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development.

Chinese leaders were long the North’s diplomatic protectors but express increasing frustration with the Jong-un’s government.

They support the latest UN Security Council sanctions but are reluctant to push Pyongyang too hard for fear Jong-un’s government might collapse. They also argue against doing anything that might hurt ordinary North Koreans.

Chinese officials complain their country bears the cost of enforcing sanctions, which have hurt businesses in its northeast that trade with the North.

The UN Security Council voted Sept 11 to limit fuel supplies and ban the North’s textile exports.

China, one of five permanent council members with power to veto UN action, agreed to the measure after the United States toned down a proposal for a complete oil embargo.

Petroleum exports for use in the North’s ballistic missile program or other activities banned by UN sanctions also are prohibited, the Commerce Ministry said.

The US government’s Energy Information Agency estimates the North’s 2016 daily imports from China at 15,000 barrels of crude oil and 6,000 barrels of refined products. That would be the equivalent of almost 5.5 million barrels of crude and 2.2 million barrels of refined products for the full year.

North Korea has abundant coal but depends almost entirely on imports for oil and gas.

North Korean textile exports in 2016 totalled US$ 750mil (RM3.15mil), according to South Korea’s Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. It said nearly 80% went to China. — AFP /AP