A magnitude 6.0 earthquake has been detected off the coast of North Korea sparking fears Kim Jong-un has detonated another nuclear weapon.

The quake was very deep, 348.2 miles (560 km) below the seabed, and unlikely to cause any damage.

Its epicenter was 125 miles (201 km) southeast of the North Korean city of Chongjin and it comes amid heightened tension surrounding the country’s weapons programme.

Early speculation pointed to it being a man-made earthquake as has been the case in the past, but as the details of the incident emerged it appeared to be a standard natural disaster.

The circles show the epicentre of the earthquake which registered with a magnitude of 6.0

The successful test-fire of the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 at an undisclosed location said to have taken place on July 4

In January last year, a man-made earthquake was detected near a known nuclear testing site in North Korea.

The United States Geological Service reported a 5.1 magnitude quake that South Korea said was 49 kms (30 miles) from the Punggye-ri site where the North has conducted nuclear tests in the past.

A Korea Meteorological Administration official then said: ‘We suspect a man-made earthquake and are analysing the scale and epicentre of the quake with the geoscience and mineral resource institute of South Korea.’

Earlier today, North Korea threatened to turn the US into a ‘pile of ash’ if Donald Trump tries to use force to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Military intervention will ‘inevitably lead the US to self-destruction’, Kim Jong-un‘s state-run newspaper Minju Choson warned.

The threat came as the US successfully tested its THAAD missile defense system against an intermediate-range ballistic missile in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and Alaska – a key area as tensions with North Korea mount…..More Here