China Earthquake Admin: 3.4 magnitude tremor in DPRK not nuclear test

World Today

People watch a TV news program reporting an earthquake in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

The zero-depth earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale that occurred Saturday in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not the result of a nuclear test, the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) said.

The China Earthquake Administration, of which the CENC is a part, and related departments conducted studies on the infrasonic records of the earthquake and previous quakes, including those provoked by nuclear tests on the Korean Peninsula.

They concluded that Saturday’s quake is a natural one, the seismic service said.

The epicenter was at 41.36 degrees north latitude and 129.06 degrees east latitude, according to the CENC.

The epicenter was roughly the same with a similar shallow earthquake on Sept. 3, which turned out to be caused by a nuclear test by the DPRK.

Earlier, South Korea’s weather agency said the quake is presumed to have been a natural one, the country’s Yonhap news agency reported.

“The quake is presumed to have occurred naturally,” the report quoted an agency official as saying. “A sound wave, which is usually generated in the event of an artificial earthquake, was not detected.”

Story by Xinhua News