An earthquake in North Korea may have actually been a nuclear bomb test, regional officials said Wednesday (local time).
North Korean news agency KCNA reported that the country's leader, Kim Jong Un "made the final decision on January 3rd to go ahead with the hydrogen test and accordingly we have conducted hydrogen bomb test at 10 a.m. on January 6 with total success."
Before that announcement, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that his government was gathering and analyzing information on the incident, but they suspected it was a nuclear test.
He also said the government has convened meetings of a task force on North Korea.
The United States Geological Service reported a 5.1 magnitude quake that South Korea said was 30 miles from the Punggye-ri site where the North has conducted nuclear tests in the past
"We suspect a man-made earthquake and are analyzing the scale and epicenter of the quake with the geoscience and mineral resource institute of South Korea," a South Korea Meteorological Administration official told Reuters.