SEOUL, South Korea — A small earthquake was detected on Saturday afternoon near North Korea’s underground nuclear test site, reviving fears that the country had set off another bomb.
Chinese seismologists said the activity was most likely caused by an explosion, but the United States Geological Survey said it was too early to say whether the cause was natural or artificial.
The South Korean seismology agency said the quake was probably natural, and the North did not immediately issue a statement or say that one was coming, as it has done when conducting previous tests.
The three agencies gave varying estimates for the magnitude of the earthquake: the Americans, 3.5; the Chinese, 3.4; and the South Koreans, 3.0.
The seismic activity resembled the shaking caused on Sept. 3 by an underground nuclear test — the sixth by North Korea — that prompted a warning from the United States.
In the nearly three weeks since, as leaders of North Korea and the United States have exchanged insults, the world has braced itself for another show of force by the North.
So when the China Earthquake Administration reported a 3.4-magnitude tremor on Saturday afternoon and attributed it to a “suspected explosion,” the news immediately set off alarm bells.
#CENC, China's seismic service, says the quake is likely caused by explosion and happens in the same location where last H-bomb detonated *****CaKaRj0qIY
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) Sept. 23, 2017
