Smuggling between the two countries becomes more difficult amid tighter customs checks and patrols by Chinese border police, traders say
North Korean workers have begun to leave the Chinese border city of Dandong, after the latest round of sanctions seeking to restrict Pyongyang’s ability to earn foreign currency income, local businesses and traders say.
Almost 100,000 overseas workers, based mostly in China and Russia, funnel some US$500 million in wages a year to help finance the North Korean regime, the US government says.
Dandong, a city of 800,000 along the Yalu River, which defines the border with North Korea, is home to many restaurants and hotels that hire North Korean waitresses and musicians. Their colourful song and dance performances are a tourist attraction.
China bans North Korean textile imports, to squeeze oil supply in line with UN sanctions on reclusive state
Thousands of workers, most of them women, are also employed by Chinese-owned garment and electronics factories in Dandong, with a significant share of their wages going straight to the North Korean state.
The Wing Cafe used to advertise its “beautiful North Korean” waitresses on its shopfront by the Yalu. The sign is now gone, and cafe staff said the waitresses had returned home in recent weeks after their visas expired.
“There have been changes in government policy,” the manager of another restaurant said. “It’s not convenient to say more.”
Videos circulating on Chinese social media appear to show hundreds of North Korean women waiting in line to clear immigration at Dandong’s border gate. A group of around 50 North Korean women were waiting to cross the border on Friday morning.
Four traders, who deal in goods ranging from iron ore and seafood to ginseng and alcohol, said the sanctions had all but crippled the usual trade.
