Japanese Foreign Ministry claims Pyongyang conducted nuclear test, after 'artificial earthquake' strikes N. Korea

RT
Sun, 03 Sep 2017 08:02 UTC

© Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Military vehicles carry missiles during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father in Pyongyang

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake has struck North Korea near a known nuclear test site - Punggye-ri. The Japanese Foreign Ministry claims that according to its data, "it was a nuclear test."

"After examining the data we concluded that it was a nuclear tests," Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at a briefing following a meeting of Japan's National Security Council, Reuters reports.

North Korea's state television said it would carry an important announcement at 06:30 GMT.

An allegedly artificial quake was detected at 12:36pm in North Hamgyeong Province, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Yonhap reports.

"Today, at around 12:36pm, we detected an artificial earthquake measuring 5.6 magnitude... we are analyzing whether a nuclear test was conducted," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to Yonhap.

The USGS reported the tremor as a 6.3 magnitude, while China's earthquake administration also said it detected a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in northeastern North Korea, calling it a "suspected explosion," Reuters reported.

The Pentagon and the JCS have urgently called for a crisis countermeasure, assuming that North Korea is most likely to have conducted a sixth nuclear test, the report added. Seoul has placed its military on highest alert and is closely cooperating with the US.

Seoul's presidential office has already accused its neighbor of conducting a nuclear test while president Moon Jae-in has convened a National Security Council meeting.

Earlier in the day, North Korea's official news agency (KCNA) reported that the Nuclear Weapons Institute has created a "more developed nuke," that can be fitted on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The new alleged hydrogen bomb, the report said, not only features "enormous destructive power" but can also be used to detonate a "super powerful" electromagnetic pulse.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service warned Monday that its neighbor might be preparing its sixth nuclear weapon test from a nuclear test site in Punggye-ri. North Korea has already conducted five nuclear tests - in 2006, 2009, 2013 and in January and September 2016. During the last test, the North claimed it had successfully detonated a small nuclear warhead.

Comment: The Japanese government said it recorded a 6.1-magnitude earthquake, with an epicenter at the depth of less than 1 km, at 6:29 Moscow time.

An emergency panel was set up at the Japanese Prime Minister's Office. Its experts are currently involved in gathering and analyzing all available information.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that his country would maintain close contact with the United States, South Korea, China and Russia on the issue.

"We are gathering and analyzing all the required information. I have already ordered to maintain close contact with the United States, South Korea, Russia and China," he said.

North Korea, in its turn, said it was National Security Council will convene to analyze the matter, the Yonhap news agency reported.

According to a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) statement Pyongyang can now deploy a powerful hydrogen bomb small enough to be mounted atop one of its recently developed ICBMs, capable of striking the US mainland in minutes, cited by Yonhap.

The KCNA Sunday announcement,asserted that DPRK leader Kim Jong Un observed the miniaturized nuclear weapon while visiting Pyongyang's Nuclear Weapons Institute."The institute recently succeeded in making a more developed nuke, true to the strategic intention of the [Workers' Party of Korea] for bringing about a signal turn in nuclear weaponization," stated KCNA.

"[DPRK leader Kim viewed] an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM," cited by BNOnews.com

If true, the development will increase tensions in the region already near the breaking point as Washington has postured toward military intervention with the isolated nation, against the advice of China and Russia, and many other nations in the region.

North Korea claims to have conducted a hydrogen bomb test in TV announcement

See also: Suspected nuclear test in North Korea after 5.3 magnitude 'earthquake' recorded