China suspects small quake near nuke site is an explosion

BEIJING: China said a magnitude 3.4 earthquake detected in North Korea yesterday was a “suspected explosion”, raising fears the isolated state had conducted another nuclear bomb test just weeks after its last one.

An official at South Korea’s meteorological agency said they were analysing the tremor, which they put at magnitude 3.0, but the initial view was that it was a natural quake.

“A key method is to look at the seismic waves or seismic acoustic waves and the latter can be detected in the case of a manmade earthquake,” said the official.

“In this case we saw none. So as of now, we are categorising this as a natural earthquake.”

The earthquake was detected in Kilju county in North Hamgyong Province, where North Korea's known Punggyeri nuclear site is located, the official said.

China’s earthquake administration said the quake, which occurred at 0830 GMT, was recorded a depth of zero kilometres.

All of North Korea’s six nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 4.3 or above. The last test on Sept 3 registered as a 6.3 magnitude quake. A secondary tremor detected after that test could have been caused by a tunnel collapse.

Satellite photos of the area after the Sept 3 quake showed numerous landslides apparently caused by the blast. Reuters