Exclusive | China-North Korea truck trade may fully resume in 1 month, along with tourism: source
- Travel agency in China’s bordering Liaoning province is also promoting itineraries to North Korea starting from mid-June
- But a full reopening of the land border remains unofficial, and a source says the move ‘is entirely up to North Korea’
North Korea may reopen its border with China as early as next month to fully resume truck shipments and personnel travel, according to a source briefed by officials on both sides.
Two travel agencies based in Liaoning province further corroborated to the Post that they have received notice from North Korean authorities that the country will be open to tourists from June 10.
“Pyongyang plans to reopen [China borders] in early June,” the briefed source said about the arrangements.
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Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity, the person said customs staff at the Chinese land ports returned to work earlier this year, getting ready for a resumption of cargo truck transport.
However, it remains entirely possible that Pyongyang could delay the border reopening to the second half of this year.
“[When to reopen] is entirely up to North Korea, because they are still worried about the pandemic, which China does not care about any more,” the source said, adding that the food shortage is the biggest motivation for North Korea to resume normal cross-border freights soon.
Out of around a dozen land checkpoints along the countries’ 1,420km (882-mile) border, only a cross-border railway connecting the northeast Chinese city of Dandong in Liaoning with the North Korean city of Sinuiju is in operation.
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Sea shipments have been another means of Chinese products flowing to North Korea. And smuggling has also been pervasive.
One of the Liaoning travel agencies, which is already promoting itineraries to North Korea from mid-June on various Chinese social media platforms, said it received the notice from North Korea’s State General Bureau of Tourist Guidance, the office that organises tourism for foreigners.
“We were told that the border would reopen on the 10th of June, but there is yet to be an official announcement,” a staff member at the agency said.
Wang, who was appointed in December 2020 but had been unable to formally take up the post due to coronavirus border controls, was welcomed by North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui with a banquet on Monday.
China has been providing a vital economic lifeline to North Korea, as bilateral trade between the two accounts for more than 90 per cent of the latter’s total trade.
North Korea relies heavily on imports from China for most daily necessities – from food to clothing. In return, exports to China serve as a major source of foreign currency for Pyongyang.
The three-year border closure has also weighed on North Korean workers living in China – another big source of outside income for North Korea – as they have been unable to return home.
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Voice of America reported last week that satellite images from San Francisco-based satellite imaging company Planet Labs showed that the storage area on the Chinese side of the Yalu River Bridge, connecting Dandong and Sinuiju, was fully occupied on May 1 – likely by cross-border cargo trucks – after having been largely empty for three years.
In February, Nikkei Asia reported that only some trucks loaded with grain and other goods were allowed to cross the border from the Chinese city of Hunchun to North Korea’s Rason special economic zone.
