China wants restraint in North Korean row

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Action at the U.N. Security Council regarding North Korea should be aimed at a peaceful resolution to the crisis, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the mid-February test of an underground nuclear device by North Korea was "deplorable." The Security Council announced after the test that it was working on an appropriate response.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said actions by the Security Council should ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

"The UNSC's discussion should be conducive to the denuclearization of the peninsula as well as peace and stability in northeast Asia," he was quoted by China's official Xinhua news agency as saying.

Blog 38 North from Johns Hopkins notes that satellite imagery of the nuclear test facility indicate possible signs of human activity three days after the test, though it stressed it was unclear if the activity was normal.

Last week, a source in the Chinese government told South Korea's Yonhap news agency on condition of anonymity that Pyongyang is waiting for action from the Security Council before it decides to conduct a fourth nuclear test.