DANDONG, China • China has ramped up security along its border with North Korea, installing new surveillance cameras, deploying extra security forces and operating radiation detectors as it braces itself for a potential crisis..
DANDONG, China • China has ramped up security along its border with North Korea, installing new surveillance cameras, deploying extra security forces and operating radiation detectors as it braces itself for a potential crisis.
Bellicose rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang has raised fears in China of a conflict that could send millions of North Korean refugees across the 1,420km border, and of nuclear fallout that could hit Chinese towns.
While the authorities have been coy about preparations, residents have seen an increase in patrols along the frontier.
Radiation monitors were running in border towns, and locals said interactions with North Koreans have been discouraged.
A red banner tacked to a border fence in Dandong – a major trading hub separated from North Korea by the Yalu River – had a Cold War-like message to residents: “Citizens or organisations who see spying activities must immediately report them to national security organs.”
Outside Dandong, new checkpoints dot the road running along the Yalu River. Locals said they were installed in October.
“Before, the North Koreans came to our side to fish.
