Earthquake detected in North Korea; not clear if nuke test

North Korea is “likely” to have conducted a nuclear test that caused an quake near a known testing site in the isolated country, South Korea’s meteorological agency said on Wednesday.

Jan 6 Japan’s top government spokesman said on Wednesday that an natural disaster in North Korea may have been a nuclear test, based on past experience.

The European agency and the U.S. Geological Survey measured the magnitude of the seismic activity at 5.1 on its websites. Follow-on tests from the failed November effort seem to show North Korean engineers learning from the failures and modifying their designs.

In Seoul, the presidential Blue House called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, as officials scrambled to confirm the precise nature of the tremor. In December, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country was ready to detonate atomic and hydrogen bombs, according to state media.

South Korea estimates that North Korea has 2,500 tons to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons.

In Tuesday’s analysis, Joseph Bermudez, a specialist in satellite imagery and North Korea’s military, writes that the submarine can be viewed afloat in a berth, partially concealed under netting – possibly for repairs or post-test maintenance.

In February 2013, a nuclear test 24 kilometres from Sungjibaegam in Paegam County in North Korea triggered a tremor of 5.1 magnitude.

A basic uranium bomb is no more potent than a basic plutonium one, but the uranium enrichment path holds various advantages for the North, which has substantial deposits of uranium ore.