North Korea has been conducting underground tests of nuclear bombs recently. N.K. detonated its biggest underground test last month. The device that was detonated was rated at equivalent to about one hundred and forty kilotons of TNT. This is about ten times the size of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 at the end of World War II. Now it seems that N.K. may have worn out its underground test location.
The South Korean Korea Meteorological Administration has detected four earthquakes in the area where N.K. has been testing since the last test. The most recent quake was about two point seven magnitude. The epicenter of the quake was thirty miles northwest of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site. It was not caused by human activity and apparently resulted in no damage. Experts concluded that the four quakes were the result of damage to the tectonic stability under the test area. Earthquakes don’t normally occur in that area and none were seen after a series of smaller detonations conducted by N.K. in 2006. S.K. officials did not speculate about how the recent tests may have affected the area where the tests were carried out.
On the other hand, civilian geologists are concerned that that test area is now too geologically unstable to safely conduct any more tests. It has been the practice of N.K. to steadily increase the yield of test devices. It is unlikely that they would waste resources testing weaker nuclear devices. If they detonate a much more powerful device at the same test location, the results could be catastrophic. Destructive quakes could be triggered and wreck havoc in the area.
According to Kune Yull Suh, a professor of nuclear engineering at Seoul National University, a powerful nuclear detonation in the test area could cause an eruption at Mount Paektu which, in addition to being a sacred North Korean mountain, is also an active volcano. Mount Paektu is only sixty miles away from the test area.
There have also been fears expressed by other experts that further tests could cause landslides in the area and/or collapse tunnels and buildings. Du Hyeogn Cha, a visiting scholar at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, has expressed similar concerns about further tests in the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site.
Tensions between the U.S. and N.K. have been steadily increasing in the past year. U.S President Trump and N.K. Dictator Kim Jong Un have been hurling insults and threats at each other for months. The threat of open warfare is more possible now than at any time in years.
Last month, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said that N.K. may conduct a test of a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean. There is speculation that this may be because the N.K. know they cannot risk another underground test. "It's likely that North Korea will conduct its next nuclear test in the stratosphere, or about 100 to 300 kilometers (60 to 185 miles) from the ground, where it will be able to conduct more powerful detonations," Suh said.
Mount Paektu relief map:
