The earthquake occurred about 50km (31 miles) from a nuclear test site, monitors say. Previous quakes were caused by weapon tests.

Chinese seismologists said it was a “suspected explosion” but South Korea says that it could be a natural quake not caused by a nuclear test.

The US Geological Survey (USGS), meanwhile, said it could not yet make a judgment as to the cause.

North Korea carried out a massive nuclear test on 3 September which was widely condemned at the UN.

The size of Saturday’s tremor is smaller than the earthquakes registered as a result of all of North Korea’s six nuclear tests.

After the last test, which North Korea said was a hydrogen bomb, initial reports from the USGS put the tremor at magnitude 5.6 with a depth of 10km but this was later upgraded to magnitude 6.3 at 0km.

The latest quake was recorded at a depth of 0km in North Hamgyong province, home to the Punggye-ri nuclear site, South Korea’s meteorological agency says.

The USGS also said it occurred in the nuclear test area but said its seismologists assessed it as having a depth of 5km.

“We cannot conclusively confirm at this time the nature (natural or human-made) of the event,” it said.

While the cause remains unknown, alternative explanations suggested by North Korea analysts include tunnel collapses at the testing site.

South Korea said it believed the quake was natural because the specific soundwaves generated by artificial earthquakes were not detected, Reuters news agency reports.

Analysts from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization are examining the “unusual seismic activity of a much smaller magnitude” in North Korea, executive secretary Lassina Zerbo tweeted.

He said the quake occurred “about 50km from prior tests” and later added that two seismic events had been registered and it was unlikely they were “man-made”.

North Korea has refused to stop its missile and nuclear tests, despite successive rounds of UN sanctions and international criticism. Its leaders say nuclear capabilities are its only deterrent against an outside world seeking to destroy it.

On Saturday, China said it had moved to limit North Korea’s oil supply and would stop buying textiles from its traditional ally in line with the latest UN sanctions.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov compared US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to children fighting in a kindergarten.

The pair had swapped insults, with Mr Trump calling the North Korean a suicidal “rocket man” and being labelled “mentally deranged” and “a dotard” in return.

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Source: BBC

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Wang Yi said he urged Ri Yong-ho to abide by UN resolutions in a meeting on Sunday in the Philippines.

He did not say how Mr Ri replied.

Saturday’s resolution banning North Korean exports and limiting investments in the country was passed unanimously.

Mr Wang said sanctions were needed, but “are not the final goal”, and he urged dialogue. He said he told North Korea to remain calm, and not provoke the international community with more tests.

The Chinese envoy also urged the US and South Korea not to increase tensions, saying that the situation was at a “critical point”, but also a juncture at which talks could be resumed.

US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley earlier said North Korea was facing “the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation”.

Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, claiming it now had the ability to hit the US.

However, experts doubt the missiles can hit their targets.

The tests were condemned by South Korea, Japan and the US, and prompted the drafting of the new UN sanctions.

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Source: BBC

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The device was described as a “surface-to-surface medium-to-long-range ballistic missile”, the Korean state news agency KCNA reported.

South Korea’s defence ministry called it an armed provocation to test the response of US President Donald Trump.

North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test has been widely condemned.

The US, Japan and South Korea have requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the incident.

KCNA reported that the test of the Pukguksong-2 missile, a new type of strategic weapon said to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un.

It added that the missile was fired at a high angle in consideration of neighbouring countries.

The rocket used a solid-fuel engine, the report said, which gives ballistic rockets greater power and range.

South Korea military experts said the rocket had been launched by a “cold-eject” system, which uses compressed gas for its initial thrust, a system employed for submarine-launched missiles.

The report also said that Kim Jong-un “expressed great satisfaction” over the test launch, which it said “adds to the tremendous might of the country”.

South Korea and US officials said the missile flew east towards the Sea of Japan for about 500km (300 miles).

The missile reached an altitude of about 550km (350 miles), the South Korean military said.

Experts suggest the tests are programmed for shorter distances to avoid a missile landing on Japan.

This was the latest in a series of tests in the past year, including North Korea’s fifth of a nuclear device.

The launch took place at 07:55 local time (22:55 GMT Saturday) from the Panghyon air base in North Pyongan province on the west side of the Korean peninsula.

United Nations resolutions forbid North Korea from carrying out ballistic missile tests – part of wider efforts to prevent it becoming a fully nuclear-armed power.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said that “North Korea’s repeated provocations show the Kim Jong-un regime’s nature of irrationality, maniacally obsessed in its nuclear and missile development”.

‘Hostility’

Nato also condemned the missile test, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urging North Korea “not to raise tensions further and to re-engage in a credible and meaningful dialogue with the international community”.

The European Union joined the criticism, declaring in a statement that North Korea’s “repeated disregard of its international obligations is provocative and unacceptable”.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, standing next to Mr Trump on a visit to the United States, said the test was “absolutely intolerable”.

As for the US, Mr Trump said on Saturday: “America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%.”

China, North Korea’s closest ally, has yet to comment. Beijing has joined in international efforts to press Kim Jong-un to rein in his nuclear ambitions.

In January, Kim Jong-un warned that his military was close to testing long-range missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the United States mainland, but experts doubt the technology has progressed that far.

At the time, Mr Trump derided the claim in a tweet, saying: “It won’t happen.”

On a visit to South Korea last week, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said that any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would be met with an “effective and overwhelming” response.

He also reconfirmed plans to deploy a US missile defence system in South Korea later this year.

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Source: BBC

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