Earthquakes in South Korea through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off South Korea. The strongest on either list was a magnitude 7, four times, most recently on June 12, 1681 (Yangyang, Sanchok).
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
The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 6.3 in AD 780 (Kyongju), for which NOAA records 100 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 24 here, back to AD 27. NOAA records deaths in 9 of the events here, 569 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.4 on June 11, 2024 (Jeonbuk). NOAA’s record here begins in December 27 with an earthquake (Kwangju). It grows thinner going back: 5 of the 24 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 7 tsunamis that began in or off South Korea, and 4 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 5 m, on May 26, 1983. The deadliest here came on April 13, 1923 from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake (Kamchatka): NOAA’s runup records count 400 deaths in South Korea.
The events
- June 11, 2024Earthquake · M 4.4JeonbukNOAA NCEI
- September 12, 2016Earthquake · M 5.4Gyeongju · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 26, 1983Tsunami · 5 m hereNoshiro, Japan · 3 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 13, 1923Tsunami · 20 m highKamchatka · 400 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 12, 1681Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)Yangyang, SanchokNOAA NCEI
- August 12, 1664Earthquake · M 6.3 (est.)Chonju,Chinan · 50 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- AD 780Earthquake · M 6.3 (est.)Kyongju · 100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- September 12, 664Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)KyongjuNOAA NCEI
- October 304Earthquake · M 6.7 (est.)KyongjuNOAA NCEI
- July 89Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)KwangjuNOAA NCEI
- December 27Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)KwangjuNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for South 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 South 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 South 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