This image released on September 3, 2017, by the North Korean Official News Service (KCNA), shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a briefing by scientists at the Nuclear Weapons Institute on the details of the country's nuclear weaponization program. File photo by KCNA/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A natural earthquake of magnitude 2.5 was detected in North Korea on Saturday close to where the country recently conducted a nuclear test, Seoul's weather agency said.

The tremor occurred at 7:45 a.m. in Kilju, North Hamgyeong Province, about 2.7 kilometers away from the Punggye-ri nuclear site in the same province, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test at the site on Sept. 3.


The KMA said the quake is a natural one but is presumed to have occurred in the aftermath of the nuke test.

"Kilju is a rocky area where natural earthquakes normally do not occur. However, the quake could have been caused by geological changes created from the recent nuclear explosion," said an agency official who asked not to be named.

Since 2006, North Korea has carried out six nuclear tests, including two last year.