YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK (Sputnik) – The seismic event detected in North Korea on Friday morning is identical to what was registered when Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test in January, the head of the Sakhalin seismological station told RIA Novosti.
"The earthquake could be artificial as it is analogous to what we registered on January 6 of the current year, when DPRK declared nuclear tests. We have studied the nature of the seismic waves today [comparing it] to the January 6 wave map, they are identical," Elena Semenova said on Friday.
She added that the Friday data is also similar to what was registered in 2006, 2009 and 2013, when North Korea conducted its other nuclear tests.
The South Korean military said that North Korea could have carried out its fifth and "biggest-ever" nuclear test on Friday, on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the foundation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the alleged nuclear test would invite stronger sanctions against Pyongyang and lead to North Korea’s deeper isolation and eventual "self-destruction."
Pyongyang’s January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February resulted in the tightening of sanctions against North Korea in a new UN Security Council resolution adopted in March.
The United Nations previously imposed sanctions on North Korea for three tests it carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
