A 5.1 magnitude quake was detected about 30 miles from North Korea’s Punggye-Ri nuclear test site this evening, indicating a possible underground nuclear detonation. North Korea’s last nuclear test was in 2013 and the detonation resulted in a quake measuring 5.1 magnitude with an estimated weapons yield between six and nine kilotons. The bomb dropped on by comparison.

According to , an official from Korea’s Meteorological Administration said:

“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.”

If this ends up being an underground nuclear test event, it will be the fourth since North Korea started actively testing nuclear devices. Another test has beenThis test also comes early last month—a claim that was and remains totally baseless.

North Korea is thought toalthough the weapons’ reliability remains uncertain.

At this time all signs are pointing toward this recent quake being a nuclear test, although the exact geology surrounding the Punggye-Ri nuclear test site is notoriously vague, making initial estimates on weapons yield and even if the event was natural or man made hard to pin down.

We will update this post as new information comes available.

North Korea state news. It still remains unlikely that North Korea would have jumped from, also known as a hydrogen bomb.

If this is correct, it would be a massive and suspiciously peculiar leap in nuclear weapons capability for the often volatile nation.

More on this as it develops.

Contact the author at .