Two tremors detected in North Korea yesterday were likely to be aftershocks from the hermit nation’s reckless nuclear test in early September, a US Geological Survey official confirmed.
The mild 2.9 and 2.4 magnitude aftershocks were confirmed as ‘tectonic’ in origin by the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty executive secretary Lassina Zerbo.
The USGS official claimed the tremors originated near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site – the location where North Korea carried out its largest nuclear test to date on September 3.
Kim Jong-un on Mount Pektu, on North Korea’s border with China, which the regime has said is ‘sacred’, on account of it being the birthplace of the country’s first dictator
The official said: ‘They’re probably relaxation events from the sixth nuclear test. When you have a large nuclear test, it moves the Earth’s crust around the area, and it takes a while for it to fully subside.
‘We’ve had a few of them since the sixth nuclear test.’
North Korea claim its September test was a H-bomb – with experts claiming it was an estimated 10 times more powerful than the US atomic bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
A sequence of tremors since that test has led experts to believe that there was damage caused to the mountainous region in the north-west of the country.
Last month it was claimed that 100 workers were feared at the site had been trapped after the tunnel reportedly collapsed on September 10, although this has not been confirmed.
In October, South Korea’s spy agency said it believed Pyongyang might be readying two more tunnel at the site.
One obstacle which could scupper North Korea using the Punggye-ri test is the nearby active volcano Mount Paektu, which is considered a sacred site by the communist nation.
Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea, where the September test was carried out
The dictator paid a visit to the site yesterday, which is claimed to be the birthplace of the secretive state’s first dictator, Kim’s grandfather.
Pictures released by the regime show the Kim in the snow at the 9,022ft, on North Korea’s border with China, which the regime rewrote history to claim was birthplace of Kim Il-Sung, the Communist who ruled from after the Second World War until 1994.
He was in fact born in the Soviet Union, but the mountain has long been integral to the country’s identity.
Data collected after North Korea’s nuclear test on September 3, showing tremors detected
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives field guidance to various units in Samjiyon County
One obstacle which could scupper North Korea using the Punggye-ri test is the nearby active volcano Mount Paektu, which is considered a sacred site by the communist nation
In retaliation to North Korea’s warmongering, the South Korean Defence Ministry carried out its own military tests