China said on Monday it had lodged an official protest with North Korea following Pyongyang’s largest-ever nuclear weapons test.

China has “launched stern representations with the person in charge of the DPRK embassy in China”, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular press briefing, using an acronym for the North’s official name.

“China opposes the DPRK in carrying out nuclear missile development and we are committed to denuclearisation of the peninsula. This position is well-known and the DPRK also knows this position perfectly well,” he said.

kim jong-un north korea dprk
Kim Jong-un. File photo: KCNA.

On Sunday North Korea said it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, an announcement that provoked strong condemnation from the international community.

The resulting blast was considerably larger than the country’s previous tests and could be felt in Chinese cities hundreds of kilometres from the North’s border.

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