my timesThe Korea Times

N. Korea-China border trade active despite sanctions

Listen
  • Published KST
  • Updated KST

By Kim Hyo-jin

The border trade between North Korea and China is increasing despite international sanctions on the North, according to media reports, Sunday.

“Customs inspections at the border post used to get tighter right after the North’s previous nuclear tests but it didn’t last long,” a businessman in Dandong, in China’s Liaoning Province, told Dong-A Ilbo. “This time, after the fifth nuclear test, is the same as before.”

Most of China’s trade with North Korea ― over 70 percent ― passes through the post in Dandong. The businessman said the volume of trade crossing the China-North Korea border had hardly diminished despite the central government’s stance against trade with the reclusive country.

Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reported Saturday that the “Dandong Customs Office is in chaos due to trucks waiting for customs clearance even after the fifth nuclear test.”

Local traders said there was more trade than last year despite the outcry over the fifth nuclear test, the paper noted. Traders said that about 400 trucks loaded with agricultural machinery and cement run from China to North Korea and about 100 trucks run from North Korea to China each day.

Amid international demands for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang, Beijing joined the condemnation of its ally over the latest nuclear test.

But China is yet to implement sanctions effectively from Resolution 2270 adopted by the United Nations Security Council in March in the wake of the North’s fourth nuclear test, let alone slap tougher sanctions on North Korea following the fifth test on Sept. 9, insiders said.

A top U.S. envoy said Tuesday China must help the international community close loopholes in sanctions on North Korea.

Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy on North Korea’s nuclear issue, called on China to work with the U.S. in effectively deterring North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, saying: “China is as responsible for UNSC Resolution 2270 as us. They have a stake in trying to make sure other resolutions are implemented fully.”