North Korean Earthquake Has A Signature Consistent With Nuclear Event

From the magnitude of it (4.9 – 5.2), it looks like the North Koreans have vastly improved the yield for their atomic bombs.

Thanks, Obama!:

North Korea believed to have carried out 3rd nuke test
Feb 11, 2013 – AP via www.cbc.ca

North Korea apparently conducted a widely anticipated nuclear test Tuesday, strongly indicated by an “explosion-like” earthquake that monitoring agencies around the globe said appeared to be unnatural.

There was no confirmation from Pyongyang that it had conducted a test, which it has been threatening for weeks.

[…]

Unusual seismic event’

A world nuclear test monitoring organization said it detected what it called an “unusual seismic event” in North Korea.

“The event shows clear explosion-like characteristics and its location is roughly congruent with the 2006 and 2009 DPRK nuclear tests,” said Tibor TDoth, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. The DPRK refers to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

[…]

The U.S. Geological Survey as well as earthquake monitoring stations in South Korea detected an earthquake near a site where North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in 2009, according to the government-funded Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.

“There is a high possibility that North Korea has conducted a nuclear test,” said Chi Heoncheol, an earthquake specialist at the institute. Chi said a magnitude 3.9 magnitude earthquake and a magnitude 4.5 earthquake were detected in the North’s 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.

South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies put the magnitude of Tuesday’s quake between 4.9 and 5.2.

Quake had nuclear test signature

“We think it is possible it came about as a result of a nuclear test by North Korea from looking at past cases,” Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference Tuesday, noting that they were still gathering information.

“A natural earthquake normally starts with a smaller tremor followed by a larger one. This quake’s strength was the same throughout,” according to Yosuke Igarashi, an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency. He declined to elaborate on the length of the quake or other details, saying the agency was studying the data.

[…]

In Washington, the White House had no immediate comment on Tuesday’s developments.

[…]

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