A tremor that measured in at a magnitude of 4.9 occurred on Tuesday, Feb. 12 in North Korea sending governments surrounding the area searching for information on if it was a nuclear test.
Considering the regime in North Korea has stated it will carry out nuclear tests regardless of sanctions and protests from the international community, it’s not a stretch to believe the tremor was in fact a nuclear bomb test.
The large tremor was detected by the U.S. Geological Survey. Tibor Toth, the executive secretary of the U.S. Geological Survey posted a statement regarding the tremor on the agency’s website.
Toth said, “The event shows clear explosion like characteristics and its location is roughly congruent with the 2006 and 2009 DPRK (North Korea) nuclear tests. If confirmed as a nuclear test, this act would constitute a clear threat to international peace and security, and challenges efforts made to strengthen global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.”
Very quickly the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization spoke with ABC news on the matter. They said, “We confirm that a suspicious seismic event has taken place in North Korea.” The organization went on to say that they were still trying to figure out what caused the seismic activity.
Japan’s chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga stated that the prime minister called an urgent security meeting. At the same time, South Korea elevated its military alert level.
The AP is reporting that South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok stated that North Korea “informed the United States and China that it intended to carry out another nuclear test.” So far, no United States officials have issued a statement in regards to the possible nuclear bomb test.
After a successful launch of a long range rocket in December, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea’s leader stated that the weapons tests were specifically targeting the United States. One month later, the country described by George Bush as one of the “axis of evil” threatened to carry out “higher-level tests.”
North Korea’s main ally in the region, China has warned the volatile country that if it carried out such a test they would cut back on the amount of much needed food assistance it provided.
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