Abstract:
North Korea successively conducted five large-scale nuclear tests on May 25, 2009, February 12, 2013, January 6, 2016, September 9, 2016 and September 3, 2017, respectively, since their first underground nuclear test on October 9, 2006. Because the focal mechanisms of nuclear explosions are different from those of natural earthquakes, the seismic waves generated by nuclear explosions can be used to monitor nuclear tests. The seismological research on nuclear tests has always been the focus of domestic and international experts. This paper summarizes the relevant seismological research progresses on North Korea's nuclear tests in recent years in the aspects of event location, discrimination, and yield and burial depth. This paper then uses the bibliometric method to analyse the relevant seismological research status on North Korea's nuclear tests. The comprehensive results show that the main research directions of relevant seismological research based on North Korea's nuclear tests in recent years are nuclear test location, yield estimation, and burial depth estimation.