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| Tremor Points to a Nuclear Test in North Korea | Tremor Points to a Nuclear Test in North Korea |
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| SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials said that they had detected an “artificial” tremor emanating from North Korea on Friday morning, indicating that the country had likely conducted its fifth nuclear test despite threats of more sanctions from Washington and the United Nations. | |
| A statement from the South Korean military also said that an artificial tremor, registered as magnitude 5.0, had originated from Punggye-ri in northeastern North Korea, where the North has conducted its four previous underground nuclear tests. | A statement from the South Korean military also said that an artificial tremor, registered as magnitude 5.0, had originated from Punggye-ri in northeastern North Korea, where the North has conducted its four previous underground nuclear tests. |
| An emergency task force was assessing the implications of the tremor should it, as expected, turn out to be a nuclear test. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn of South Korea was calling an emergency meeting of top security officials, while his boss, President Park Geun-hye, was visiting Laos, the president’s office said. | |
| The episode unfolded less than a day after President Obama concluded the final Asian tour of his presidency and highlighted the conundrums that the North Korean threat presents to the United States and China, which have often been at odds over how to respond. | |
| In Washington, Ned Price, a National Security Council spokesman, said: “We are aware of seismic activity on the Korean Peninsula in the vicinity of a known North Korean nuclear test site. We are monitoring and continuing to assess the situation in close coordination with our regional partners.” | |
| The Korea Meteorological Administration detected the tremor, which a spokeswoman said appeared to have been “artificially caused,” not the result of an earthquake. The agency was analyzing data to see if the tremor indicated an underground nuclear detonation, the spokeswoman said. | |
| The United States Geological Survey reported a 5.3-magnitude tremor about nine miles east-northeast of Sungjibaegam, North Korea. | |
| A nuclear test would set the stage for a new round of tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula, and heighten anxieties elsewhere in Asia and beyond. For the past two decades, Washington has been struggling in vain to stop North Korea’s bellicose, anti-American leaders from arming the country with nuclear weapons. | |
| In a statement, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said if a test had been conducted, “it simply cannot be justified.” He added that he had instructed government security analysts to collect as much information as possible and share it with the United States, South Korea, China and Russia. | |
| North Korea last tested a nuclear device on Jan. 6. In April, Ms. Park warned that the North might be preparing for another underground nuclear test in defiance of United Nations sanctions. | |
| Friday will be the 68th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean government. The country often celebrates its major holidays with a show of military might. Last week, it fired three ballistic missiles into the sea between the North and Japan, prompting the United Nations Security Council to urge the North to stop provocations or face more sanctions. | |
| In March, the North Korean state news media reported that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, had ordered that a “nuclear warhead explosion test” be conducted soon, as well as tests of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. North Korea has since launched a series of ballistic missiles, including one launched from a submarine last month. | |
| South Korean officials also have reported occasional signs of preparations at the Punggye-ri site, and speculation built over what type of device North Korea might detonate, and what it might mean for its declared goal of building a compact nuclear warhead and a long-range missile to deliver it. | |
| After the North’s nuclear test in January, and a long-range rocket launch weeks later, the United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on the country, with the support of China, Pyongyang’s lone major ally. But the North has continued to flaunt its nuclear ambitions with a series of tests and claims about what it says are its growing technological capabilities. | |
| Since inheriting power from his father, Kim Jong-il, in late 2011, Kim Jong-un has called for accelerating the North’s pursuit of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons in defiance of international pressure. Three of the North’s five nuclear tests have been conducted under his rule. | |
| Since Kim Jong-un became leader, North Korea has also placed two satellites into orbit, most recently on Feb. 7, by launching long-range rockets. The United Nations has barred the country from launching such rockets because it considers the North’s satellite program a cover for developing an intercontinental ballistic missile. | |
| In recent months, North Korea has indicated that it is now capable of building a warhead compact and sophisticated enough to mount on an intercontinental ballistic missile. But such claims have been difficult to verify. | |
| North Korea has never flight-tested a long-range missile, and officials and analysts in the region generally doubt that it has built a reliable ICBM. But the heads of two government-run think tanks in Seoul have recently said that they believe North Korea is now able to mount a nuclear warhead on a short-range Scud or medium-range Rodong missile, if not on an ICBM. | |
| Pyongyang said its Jan. 6 nuclear test was of a hydrogen bomb, which would have marked a major escalation in its capacity for destruction. | |
| Yet analysts were skeptical of the claim, saying that such a weapon would have generated a much bigger seismic wave. Some experts said the North might have tried to boost the yield of a more traditional device by using tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. | |
| The continuing nuclear and missile tests from the North suggested that Mr. Kim has little regard for warnings from Washington and the Security Council, and they highlighted the growing nuclear challenge that North Korea has posed for Mr. Obama. All but one of its nuclear tests have taken place during his time in office, while Washington has focused on defusing the nuclear threat from Iran. | |
| China joined the United States and other nations on the Security Council in imposing the latest sanctions in March, which require countries to inspect all cargo coming to and from North Korea for illicit goods. But the sanctions have many loopholes in them, and analysts say trade and smuggling across the border between China and North Korea have continued. | |
| Analysts say that despite its irritation with North Korea’s provocative behavior, China does not want to undermine its government, for fear that its collapse would unleash a flood of refugees into northeast China and result in a unified, pro-American Korea on its border. |