China checks for radiation along border

China is monitoring for radiation along its border with North Korea after yesterday’s nuclear test. The environment ministry said it began “emergency radiation monitoring” along its northeastern border shortly before noon.

The emergency response was set at “level 2,” the second-highest grade on a four-tier system. “At present, the automatic radiation monitoring stations in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Shandong are functioning properly,” the ministry said.

By 4pm yesterday, monitoring data from the four provinces showed that China’s environment had not been affected by the nuclear test, the ministry announced in a separate statement.

All monitoring spots saw radiation at normal levels, the ministry added.

The China Earthquake Administration reported that a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck at 11:30am.

It had an epicenter depth of zero kilometer, Xinhua news agency reported, saying that it might have been caused by explosion.

North Korea declared the test of what it called a hydrogen bomb to be a “perfect success.”

China strongly condemned the test, slamming Pyongyang for ignoring international condemnation of its atomic weapons program.

North Korea “has ignored the international community’s widespread opposition, again carrying out a nuclear test.” 

“China’s government expresses resolute opposition and strong condemnation toward this,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We strongly urge the DPRK (North Korea) to face the strong will of denuclearization from the international community, earnestly abide by the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, stop taking mistaken actions which worsen the situation and are also not in line with its own interests, and effectively return to the track of solving the problem through dialogue,” it added in the statement posted on its website.