Residents in Yanji, a Chinese city not far from the North Korean border, expressed concern and fear on Thursday (January 7), a day after North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
North Korea said it successfully tested a powerful nuclear bomb on Wednesday (January 6), drawing threats of further sanctions even though the United States and weapons experts voiced doubts the device was as advanced as the isolated nation claimed.
The underground explosion shook the earth so hard that it registered as a seismic event with U.S. earthquake monitors. It has put pressure on China to rein in neighbouring North Korea.
Yanji in China’s north-eastern Jilin province is about 30 kilometres from the North Korean border, not far from the nuclear testing site.
Yanji residents said they felt the tremors when the explosion occurred.
“At that time I just felt like the earth was vibrating, just like an earthquake. My feeling at the time was that it was an earthquake. And then, I saw, heard from what my friends had posted on Wechat (a Chinese chat app for smartphones), that they (North Korea) had a nuclear test,” said Hong Liang, a 30 year-old local salesman.
Liu Wanzhi, 60, said North Korea had violated international law and a fresh round of sanctions should be served up, especially since the test could pollute Yanji.
“North Korea is so close to Yanji, so it definitely brings harm to the air pollution. Most common folk know this from experience. Right now, we can start to take preventive (measures) by wearing a face mask. I don’t know if my country, or the international community, can take action to prevent this, and (think of) how to resist them in the future, and control their nuclear tests,” said Liu.
Piao Yanji, an ethnic Korean student at the local Yanbian University, said that she and friends are fearful that such an event could happen not far from their own city.
“Right now I feel a little afraid… Right now, if they’re going to carry out even larger-scale nuclear weapons tests, this will definitely harm our lives. So we should definitely think of more ways (to prevent it from happening),” she said.
The test was the fourth by North Korea and was ordered by leader Kim Jong Un, state media said.
Last month, Kim appeared to claim his country had developed a hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear device, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but the United States and outside experts were sceptical at the time.
The test may mark an advance of North Korea’s nuclear technology. The claim of miniaturising, which would allow the device to be adapted as a weapon and placed on a missile, would also pose a new threat to the United States and its regional allies, Japan and South Korea. (Reuters)
