Suspected explosion triggers a small earthquake near China’s border with North Korea ahead of President Xi’s state visit to Pyongyang
- A magnitude 1.3 quake was monitored today in the Chinese city of Hunchun
- Authority said it was caused by a suspected explosion without giving details
- The city in China’s Korean Autonomous Prefecture borders N. Korea and Russia
- Comes as President Xi is set to pay a two-day state visit to Pyongyang this week
A suspected explosion triggered a small explosion today near the China-North Korea border, according to Chinese authorities.
The magnitude 1.3 quake took place in the Chinese city of Hunchun at 19:38pm local time with a focal depth of zero metres, reported China seismic network.
The news comes as Chinese President Xi is set to pay a two-day state visit to North Korea from Thursday.
The earthquake took place today at 19:38pm local time in the city of Hunchun (pictured)
Hunchun, with 220,000 residents, is situated on China’s border with North Korea and Russia
China seismic network, which is affiliated to China Earthquake Administration, said on its website that the earthquake was monitored at 42.94 North latitude and 130.30 degrees East longitude.
The network claimed it was caused by a suspected explosion, but did not give further details.
The city of Hunchun is situated in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in north-eastern China’s Jilin Province.
It is home to around 220,000 people, among whom some 30 per cent are ethnically Korean.
The city is also on the China-Russia border.
Chinese President Xi is set to pay a two-day state visit to North Korea from Thursday. Kim Jong-un is pictured shaking hands with Xi during a state visit to Beijing in June last year
Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a state visit to Pyongyang this week, China’s state media reported today.
The two-day trip, set to take place on Thursday and Friday, will make 66-year-old Xi the first Chinese leader to visit the reclusive country in 14 years.
The journey will be Xi’s first state visit to North Korea as the Chinese President after taking office in 2012.
‘Both sides will exchange views on the (Korean) peninsula situation, and push for new progress in the political resolution of the peninsula issue,’ reported China’s official CCTV broadcaster, citing the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China.
Apart from the state meeting, Xi and Kim are expected to visit the North Korea-China Friendship Monument on the Moran Hill in Pyongyang.
This year marks the 70th year since China and North Korea established diplomatic ties.
The two leaders will celebrate their two countries’ long-lasting friendship and herald a new chapter of their relations, CCTV added.