Alwaght- The Japanese Foreign Ministry says a tremor were detected in North Korea on Sunday that according to Tokyo's data was the result of a nuclear test.
"After examining the data we concluded that it was a nuclear tests,"Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at a briefing following a meeting of Japan's National Security Council, Reuters reports.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) on Sunday detected a first tremor, saying in an updated reading that the quake measured 6.3 on the Richter scale at a depth of 10 kilometers, 24 kilometers northeast of Sungjibaegam in North Korea.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the seismic tremor had been detected near the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
China detected a second tremor, which it said was magnitude 4.6 and came at a depth of zero kilometers eight minutes after the first quake.
Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji, on the border with North Korea, said they felt a tremor that lasted roughly 10 seconds, followed by an aftershock, Reuters reported.
While South Korean officials said that the tremors were likely caused by a nuclear explosion, Japan said in certain terms that a nuclear test had occurred.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense said it had dispatched at least three military jets from bases in Japan to test for radiation.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said North Korea was due to make an “important announcement” at 0630 GMT.
If North Korea confirms that it has conducted a nuclear test, it would be the country’s sixth such test.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had said earlier in the day a nuclear test would be absolutely unacceptable.
“If it forcibly conducted a nuclear test, it’s absolutely unacceptable. We have to strongly protest it,” Abe said.
