N. Korea reports 3.8-magnitude quake in August

SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea was hit by a magnitude 3.8 earthquake last
month, according to a Pyongyang newspaper acquired here Wednesday, but the report
did not mention whether there were any casualties or damage.
The quake shook a rural area south of Pyongyang on Aug. 21 but "could be felt
even in downtown," the Aug. 26th edition of the Minju Joson, a daily published by
the North's Cabinet, said.
The Korean Peninsula has been relatively free of major earthquakes, compared to
its neighbors Japan and China, but an increasing number of small-scale tremors
have been recorded on seismometers in recent years. The Korea Meteorological
Administration says that earthquakes measuring a magnitude 2 or higher occurred
47 times on the peninsula as of Aug. 26 this year, while 46 such quakes occurred
throughout the whole year in 2008.
The North Korean tremor that occurred at 11:02 p.m. is categorized as "small," it
said.
"Sporadic small-scale quakes that can be detected through seismometers have been
occurring more frequently in recent years," the paper added.
According to South Korea's weather agency, North Korea was hit by 10 earthquakes
as of Aug. 26, compared to 11 reported for last year.
Experts are divided over whether seismic activity on the peninsula is actually on
the rise or if the increase comes from more modernized instruments that can
better detect seismic waves across a wider range.
"The number of earthquakes shot up in the 1990s, a time when our equipment
modernized. We don't know for sure yet if we have to be alarmed or if it just
comes from the better equipment," Lee Ho-man, a seismic activity official at the
weather agency, said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)