China border residents evacuated after N. Korea test

People watch a TV screen showing the news reporting about an earthquake near North Korea’s nuclear facility at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would put Pyongyang a big step closer toward improving its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The letters read: ” North Korea’s nuclear test.” AP Photo

BEIJING, China—Chinese border residents were evacuated from buildings after feeling tremors from North Korea’s nuclear test on Wednesday, state media reported.

READ: North Korea says it successfully tested hydrogen bomb

People near the frontier with North Korea “clearly felt tremors” on Wednesday morning after Pyongyang said it detonated a hydrogen bomb, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said on a verified social media account.

The areas included Yanji, Hunchun and Changbai in Jilin province, it added—some of the counties closest to the North’s nuclear test site.

READ: North Korea quake a ‘suspected explosion’—China seismologists

Residents in Yanji saw desks and chairs shake for several seconds and some companies evacuated employees from their offices, it said.

Students at a senior high school were dismissed during an examination after its recreation ground cracked, it added.

China is the North’s closest diplomatic ally and main provider of trade and aid, but Beijing has become increasingly frustrated with its pursuit of its nuclear ambitions and regularly calls for calm on the Korean peninsula.

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un suggested Pyongyang had already developed a hydrogen bomb, but the claim was questioned by international experts and scepticism continued over Wednesday’s test announcement.

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