Tremors in North Korea were nuclear test: Japan

Japan has concluded that the tremors detected in North Korea were a nuclear explosion, marking the sixth atomic test by Pyongyang since 2006.

“After examining the data we concluded that it was a nuclear tests,” Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at a briefing broadcast by public broadcaster NHK following a meeting of Japan’s National Security Council.

Japan’s Ministry of Defence said it had dispatched at least three military jets from bases in Japan to test for radiation.

Earlier on Sunday, two shallow earthquakes shook North Korea, hours after it said it had developed an advanced hydrogen bomb that possesses “great destructive power”.
The earthquakes, the first of which neighbouring China described as a “suspected explosion” and the second as “collapse”, struck 75 km (45 miles) north northwest of Kimchaek. Previous recent tremors in the region have been caused by nuclear tests, which if the case this time round, would be a direct challenge to US President Donald Trump, who hours earlier had talked by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the “escalating” nuclear crisis in the region.

The first, more powerful quake measured magnitude 6.3 and was 10 km deep, the U.S. Geological Survey said, again suggesting a nuclear device. Such a magnitude …read more