Moderate earthquakes hit southwestern S. Korea

IKSAN, South Korea, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- Two quakes jolted South Korea's southwest on Tuesday, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The first 3.9-magnitude quake hit Iksan, some 250 kilometers south of Seoul at 4:31 a.m., and was also felt in Seoul and the country's second-largest city of Busan, according to the Gwangju Regional Meteorological Administration. The second 1.7-magnitude quake took place at 9:20 p.m. "The house windows shook hard for seven to 10 seconds and I heard banging sounds," a 58-year-old resident in Iksan told Yonhap News Agency, referring to the first quake. He requested not to be named. The meteorological administration originally announced that the magnitude of the first quake was 3.5 but later elevated it to 3.9 after thorough analysis. It was the strongest quake to hit the Korean Peninsula this year. In August, a 3.7-magnitude tremor struck near the southern resort island of Jeju, according to the meteorological administration. (END)