I forgot to mention that, very early on Friday, my phone screamed out an emergency-alert alarm, which prompted me to activate the screen and see the following message:
In the province of Chungbuk (short for Chungcheong-bukdo, or North Chungcheong Province), 22 km northwest of Chungju city—a city I walk through every time I do the Four Rivers trail*—there was an "M4.2" earthquake (I assume the "M" means "magnitude" on the Richter scale... if anyone knows better, please leave a comment). There were falling objects, as well as a caution to be careful of aftershocks, and to refer to the National Disaster Safety Portal. [National Weather Service]
Frankly, up here in Seoul, I didn't feel anything when it happened. It's a good reminder, though, that even though the Korean peninsula sits just outside of the Ring of Fire, we do get occasional seismic activity. Not as frequently as Japan, though (more than 100 earthquakes a year), which is why most Japanese buildings are more earthquake-proof.
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*Chungju is the start of the Saejae portion of the trail; this section ends at the city of Sangju. From Sangju, if I'm doing the Four Rivers, I head along the Nakdong River to Busan. Otherwise, I can turn east along the Nakdong River trail to head straight to Andong.
To the amazement of HJ, I somehow managed to sleep through this. Apparently the entire nation was really pissed the next day about getting woken up for a non-event (the magnitude--and, yes, that's what the M stands for--was later revised downward to 3.1, which is quite mild). I hope the government learns something from this: Don't just randomly blast out alarms in the middle of the night unless North Korea is launching an artillery strike.
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