The Pohang earthquake reached a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale and resulted in the death of a hundred people, as well as substantial material damage to housing, public buildings and other infrastructure in those countries. Pohang was the second most violent earthquake in modern times in Korea.

Since 2018, many experts expressed their suspicions that these were fracking operations. The wise men now appointed by the Seoul Government have confirmed the hypothesis, as several media outlets have reported through two agencies AFP.Esta geothermal plant does not use the technology that most plants of the same name use, but that of fracking: it injects a lot of water pressure to the subsoil, which has caused "a low level seismic activity", in the words of Lee Kang-kun, who has led. "Over time, this has led to an earthquake in the city of Pohang. As we have deduced, the Pohang earthquake has been caused by man, not by nature."

Several inhabitants of the Pohang region have stated that they will be suing the Government for the earthquake and the Government has once again publicly demonstrated that it really feels so. The geothermal plant has remained closed during the investigations and "now we are going to stop it forever", said the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy. The facilities launched in 2016 cost $71 million.