China confirms contact with DPRK embassy after nuclear test

BEIJING  -- China on Thursday confirmed contact with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Embassy in Beijing after the country's latest nuclear test conducted Wednesday.

"China has made its stance clear through a Foreign Ministry statement yesterday. Senior officials of the Chinese Foreign Ministry further elaborated China's stance (on the test) to the leading official of the DPRK embassy in Beijing," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a daily press briefing.

"The test is against the normal development of China-DPRK relations," she said.

She said China had participated in an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China will continue to take part in the following discussions of the Security Council in order to promote the denuclearization and non-proliferation of the Korean Peninsula and safeguard the stability in Northeast Asia," Hua said.

The DPRK announced Wednesday that it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test. China was not notified of the test beforehand, Hua told reporters Wednesday.

The test, if confirmed, is the fourth nuclear test conducted by the DPRK. The previous three were carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

China "firmly opposes" the nuclear test, said the Foreign Ministry statement issued Wednesday, strongly urging the DPRK "to honor its commitment to denuclearization and to cease any action that may deteriorate the situation."

Peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia meet the common interests of all concerned, Hua said.

She said China is determined to advance denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and settle the nuclear issue through six-party talks.

The six-party talks, which involve the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, launched in 2003 but were stalled in December 2008. The DPRK then quit the talks in April 2009.

"The suspension of the six-party talks in recent years shows exactly the urgency and necessity of resuming the talks," Hua said, adding that China still views six-party talks as "the only effective and realistic way" to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula.