NORTH KOREA SUSPECTED AS ARTIFICIAL EXPLOSION TRIGGERS 3.4 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE

PYONGYANG, North Korea – There are indications that North Korea leader, Kim Jong Un may have fired another nuclear bomb underground, following detection of an earthquake, which the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) says is caused by an artificial explosion.

Accordimg to CENC, the quake took place in the same location where North Korea’s sixth nuclear test occurred, Beijing’s Xinhua News Agency reported.

Howecer, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake monitoring service also confirmed that it took place 16:59 Pyongyang Time and that it has a magnitude of 3.5, at a depth of 5 km underground.

“This event occurred in the area of the previous North Korean Nuclear tests,” USGS said in a statement. “We cannot conclusively confirm at this time the nature (natural or human-made) of the event.”

“The waveforms for this event are different than previous events at the site. The depth is poorly constrained and has been held to be 5 km by the seismologist.”

South Korea’s Meteorological Administration (KMA) confirmed a quake of 3.0 magnitude and said it occurred in the Kilju area of North Hamgyeong Province.