This report was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.com
In what may be the latest major escalation involving North Korea – and potentially the nation’s 7th nuclear test – China’s earthquake administration said it detected a magnitude 3.5 earthquake in North Korea, which it suspects “was caused by an explosion”, raising fears that the rogue state has tested another nuclear bomb. The Chinese administration said in a statement on its website that the quake was recorded at a depth of zero kilometers, while Xinhua said the epicenter was in roughly the same place as a similar shallow earthquake on 3 September, which turned out to be caused by North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear test.
However, in analyzing the same earthquake, South Korea came to a different conclusion, and said it was likely to be natural or man-made such as a nuclear test. South Korea’s weather agency assessed the seismic activity as a natural event.
“The quake is presumed to have occurred naturally,” an agency official said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. “A sound wave, which is usually generated in the event of an artificial earthquake, was not detected.”
“We use several methods to tell whether earthquakes are natural or manmade,” an official, who asked for anonymity, told the Independent. “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. In this case we saw none. So as of now we are categorizing this as a natural earthquake.”
Furthermore, all of North Korea’s previous six nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 3.9 or above. The last test on 3 September registered as a 6.3 magnitude quake. A secondary tremor detected after that test could have been caused by the collapse of a tunnel at the mountainous site, experts said at the time.
Additionally, the US Geological Survey said that it detected a magnitude 3.5 quake in the area of previous North Korean nuclear tests, but that it was unable to confirm whether the event was natural. North Korea’s weakest nuclear test, its first, which it carried out in 2006, generated a magnitude 3.9 quake.
As shown previously, satellite photos of the area after the 3 September quake showed numerous landslides that were apparently caused by the huge blast, which North Korea said was a hydrogen bomb. It is possible the tremor was linked to ongoing landslide activity.
Overview of Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site Before the nuclear test:
And after:
Nuclear proliferation watchdog CTBTO said on Saturday it had detected two seismic events in North Korea on Saturday but they were probably not deliberate explosions.
“Two #Seismic Events! … unlikely Man-made! Similar to “collapse“ event 8.5 mins after DPRK6! Analysis ongoing,” CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo said in a Twitter post.
Two #Seismic Events! 0829UTC & much smaller @ 0443UTC unlikely Man-made! Similar to “collapse” event 8.5 mins after DPRK6! Analysis ongoing pic.twitter.com/DXaDn8TZOf
— Lassina Zerbo (@SinaZerbo) September 23, 2017
Concerns about another North Korea test have been heightened ever since Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who is currently in New York for a United Nations meeting, warned on Thursday that Kim could consider a hydrogen bomb test of an unprecedented scale over the Pacific. Ri told reporters that a test of “the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb” was one possible “highest-level” action against the US.
But he said that he did not know exactly what his state’s exact plans were. “We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong-un,” he added.
The quake comes amid heightened tensions around the Korean Peninsula, as the North has been maintaining a torrid pace in nuclear and weapons tests. The state said its recent nuclear test was a detonation of a thermonuclear weapon built for its developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles. In two July flight tests, those missiles showed potential capability to reach deep into the US mainland when perfected.
And it might just be a earthquake. Lately earthquakes are pretty common everyplace on the planet. Didn’t Mexico just have a big quake? They never set off any explosions.
fat boy kim likes his boomers
“Pungy nuclear site”– At first, I thought they were talking about the little fat man. 🙂
Shoot boys ‘n girls – it was just Kim Jong Un’s flatulence due to his cheese addiction. Most likely having @ it with some of his slave girls and the poor little whack-job just had to let go a major ‘toot’. God help us if he learns about Texas Chili!!!
Mexico just had TWO large earthquakes. The last one was only about 7.1 (the first one was 8.1) but the last one was a whopper: A lot of death and destruction! They were only 10 days apart…
Also, California had a small one few days ago–1. something.. and Japan had a large one just off their coast.
And California had a 6. something earthquake just off their coast on the 22nd– yesterday.
North Korea famously labeled Bush a “hooligan” who “looked like a chicken soaked in rain.”
Dick Cheney: “a cruel monster and blood thirsty beast”. 🙂 (Pretty good!)
Well you can tell from that comment which one they respect and fear, can’t you.
But the most prominent threat was the North Korean’s warning that “inevitably”, the country’s rockets will hit the US, to wit:
“President Trump committed an irreversible mistake… making the visit of our rockets to the entire U.S. mainland all the more inevitable.”
little man is painting himself into a corner methinks….
WE REAP WAHT WE SOW– AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS GROUPS/COUNTRIES… We have some bad karma coming our way!!
——————————————————
September 22, 2017 | Categories: Guest Contributions | Tags: | Print This Article Print This Article
John Pilger Tells Us About Ourselves. It is not a pretty picture.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47871.htm
And Trump at the behest of the Jxx’s who want control of North koreas valuable mineral,s has also painted himself into a corner. North Korea has the advantage of firm backing from China and tepid backing from Russia. The USA would be better off just packing up and leaving both Koreas. Tell China & Russia its in your part of the world you can deal with it.
Yea, 2 (possibly nuke) satellites orbiting the central U.S., and ICBM’s that can now hit the U.S. Yea, nothing to see here. We made the same mistake right before the beginning of WWII. Ignoring a BIG potential problem won’t make it just “go away”……
united nations should BAN all trade with North korea.
Any country ignoring this ban will be BANNED from trading with the rest of the world
with luck a HUGE earthquake will destroy kims nuclear power plant & stop his weapons grade nuclear material production
Like teens playing with jury rigged explosives with their unfortunate occasional tragically accidental results it would be interesting if one of these atomic weapons detonated at the assembly facility. Opps, skilled staff and maybe some leadership all evaporated.
I miss Be Informed. Where is he when you need his expertise? I hope you are well and wish you well my friend. 🙂
Oh cool maybe they’re doing nuclear tests on a fault line.
In which case keep it up. This should be fun to watch…
Just the Pacific rim being active, NK’s nuke test didn’t help either. A lot of test of nukes in the Pacific rim, USA, French Brits and now the North Koreans.
The big one is ahhh’comin.