South Korea's government said Tuesday it will move quickly to determine the extent of damage caused by the record quake and carry out safety inspections of key infrastructure facilities.

The announcement by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security comes after the country was jolted by the magnitude 5.8 tremor on Monday. It was the strongest quake ever to be recorded on the Korean Peninsula, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

In a press conference held in Seoul, the ministry said it plans to send officials and experts to Gyeongju, which was the epicenter of the earthquake and investigate the cause and gauge the overall damage. The team will examine any shortcomings in the government's response that may have surfaced after the quake.

Gyeongju, 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul, reported over a 100 smaller aftershocks following the magnitudes 5.1 and 5.8 quakes that caused some people to hurry out of their homes. Besides the two stronger shocks, the KMA reported 3.1 and 3.2 in magnitude temblors occurring early Tuesday.

The ministry said eight people have suffered minor injuries and 253 cases of property damage have been filed so far, citing data collected from emergency rescue authorities.

Still, the ministry said it is not yet at a stage to specifically roll out plans to support people affected, adding it will first put efforts into accurately confirming injuries and damages to facilities.

"Considering the magnitude of the earthquake, the reported damage is relatively minor," professor Kim Jae-kwan at Seoul National University said during the press briefing held at the government complex in central Seoul. "This could mean either that the actual magnitude of the quake was smaller than first reported or that South Korea's buildings are earthquake-resistant to a certain extent."

Kim said the government has been preparing for earthquakes, despite the fact that South Korea has far few tremors compared to its neighbors like Japan.

The ministry spokesman Lee Seung-woo, meanwhile, vowed to improve the country's disaster alert system so that information can be passed onto the public more promptly.

There has been criticism about the system as the alert messages were sent to the public nine minutes after the 5.8 quake struck the country. (Yonhap)