Earthquakes in North Korea through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off North Korea. The strongest was a magnitude 7.4 on July 31, 1917 (7 km WSW of Rajin, North Korea).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 7 here, back to AD 502. NOAA records no deaths for any of them. NOAA’s record here begins in November 502 with an earthquake (Pyongyang). 7 of the 7 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off North Korea, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 2.1 m, on July 12, 1993. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off North Korea. The largest was Changbaishan in AD 946, at 7 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- July 12, 1993Tsunami · 2.1 m hereSea Of JapanNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 8, 1960Earthquake · M 6.8108 km SSE of Kilju, North KoreaUSGS
- July 31, 1917Earthquake · M 7.47 km WSW of Rajin, North KoreaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- August 25, 1905Earthquake · M 6.65 km SE of Namyang, North KoreaUSGS
- July 2, 1518Earthquake · M 6.7 (est.)Hwanghae-Do: PaekchonNOAA NCEI
- AD 946Eruption · VEI 7ChangbaishanNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 502Earthquake · M 6.7 (est.)PyongyangNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for North Korea when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where North Korea is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around North Korea, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history