China had decided to send lower ranked officials to canceled N. Korean concert

China had decided to send officials of lower rank to a concert by the all-female North Korean propaganda band in response to the North's leader Kim Jong-un hinting earlier last week that Pyongyang had developed a hydrogen bomb, a source in Beijing close to the situation said Sunday.

The decision might have been related to the sudden cancellation of the concert by the North Korean side, said the source, who got the information from a Chinese government official with knowledge of the situation.

The Moranbong Band, formed in 2012 following an order from leader Kim, had been scheduled to perform for three days in Beijing starting Saturday, in what was seen as a fresh sign of warming relations between the two allies.

However, the band abruptly headed home hours before the invitation-only concert began Saturday.

North Korea's state media reported Thursday, when the band arrived in Beijing, that during a recent inspection tour, Kim said the North is a "powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty."

If true, it would mark major progress in the nuclear capability of North Korea, which has conducted three nuclear tests so far.

China had been originally scheduled to send one of its 25 highest-ranking leaders in the Chinese Communist Party to the Saturday concert but decided to send vice minister-level officials after Kim's remarks on the hydrogen bomb were published, the Chinese government official told the source.

"North Korea had initially wanted President Xi (Jinping) or Premier Li (Keqiang) to attend the performance, but China did not agree on that. Instead, China offered to send one of its Politburo members to the performance," the Chinese government official was quoted as saying by the source.

North Korea accepted the Chinese proposal and decided to send the band to Beijing, the Chinese official told the source.

After China lowered the rank of the attending officials, North Korea decided to cancel the concert, the source said.

Hours after the North Korean band headed home, Wang Jiarui, vice chairman of China's rubber-stamp legislative body who plays a key role in relations with North Korea, and North Korea's ambassador to China, Ji Jae-ryong, were seen at the hotel where the band stayed, another source close to the situation said.

Wang appeared to have met with Ji to discuss "follow-up measures" after the sudden cancellation of the concert, the second source said.

There have been no official words from China or North Korea about why the concerts were canceled.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a "relevant department," that the concerts "cannot be staged as scheduled due to communication issues at the working level."

The brief Xinhua report did not elaborate about what the "communication issues" were.

China is North Korea's key ally and economic lifeline, but Beijing has expressed displeasure over the North's nuclear weapons ambitions.

Despite international pressure over its nuclear and missile programs, North Korea has shown no signs of abandoning its nuclear weapons program. (Yonhap)