6.3 magnitude quake hits Kilju, North Korea’s nuclear test site

A 6.3 magnitude quake on Sunday morning struck Kilju County, where the secretive country’s nuclear test site Punggye-Ri is located.

Japan’s government confirmed that North Korea conducted its sixth Nuclear test.

However, South Korea military says the North Korea earthquake appears to be man made. The tremors is said to be zero kilometres deep.

Reports indicated that the US Geological Survey revealed that the quake struck 55 km north northwest of Kimchaek even though no immediate reports of damage or casualties has been unveiled.

It was learnt that the quake might have been orchestrated artificially as previous recent tremors in the region have been caused by nuclear tests.

It comes after Kim-Jong-un was said to have watched a nuclear bomb being loaded on a long-range missile launcher.

Agency reports also reportedly quoted the North Korean leader says the country has developed a hydrogen bomb which has “great destructive power”.

Tensions with the US remain at an all-time high amid claims from North Korea that it has missiles which could strike the US mainland exacerbated the tension.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the dictator inspected the loading of an hydrogen bomb into a ballistic missile during his visit to a nuclear weapons institute.

It said the hydrogen bomb’s power is adjustable to hundreds of kilotons and can be detonated at high altitudes.

A local state news quotes the despot as saying he “felt the pride of indomitably bolstering up the nuclear forces at a great price” and described the bomb as having “super explosive power” which was “made by our own efforts and technology”.

The North Korean leader also expressed “great satisfaction” that the country’s scientists can do “anything without fail if the party is determined to do”.

In 2016, North Korea had boasted that it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile. It also said it had carried out a hydrogen bomb test.

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North Korea tested its fifth and most recent nuclear missile on September 9 last year on the Day of the Foundation of the Republic.

And there are growing fears the same could happen again this year while North Koreans celebrate 69 years since Kim 11-Sung came to power.

Their analysts said: “As long as the site remains in standby status, we cannot rule out that a sixth nuclear test could be conducted at any time with minimal advance warning.”

“(North Korea) has, since April 2017, continued to maintain the site at a high state of readiness such that it could conduct a test on short notice, whenever the political decision is made to proceed with another test.”

Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has pursued work on building nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles that can deliver them at an unprecedented pace, defying U.N. sanctions and international pressure.

North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun said: “Our strategic weapons are ready to thoroughly annihilate the strongholds of aggression and provocation from any unpredictable region and place anytime.

“The US and Japan have mobilised all their intelligence assets for 24-hour surveillance on us but failed to detect the launch time and place of our ballistic missiles.

“Any attempt by the puppets to detect and destroy our TELs in advance is nothing but a silly dream.

“The puppets in South Korea will never avoid catastrophes as long as they continue to run amok.”

US President Donald Trump earlier agreed to sell weapons worth billions of dollars to South Korea.

Mr Trump has also agreed to review a treaty between the two countries which places a cap on the development of its ballistic missiles.