Rising international tensions over Pyongyang’s missile launches and nuclear tests seem a distant concern in the Chinese border city of Dandong, where trucks rumble across the bridge to North Korea and people stroll the promenade beside the Yalu River within sight of North Korean border guards.
DANDONG, China (AP) — Rising international tensions over Pyongyang’s missile launches and nuclear tests seem a distant concern in the Chinese border city of Dandong, where trucks rumble across the bridge to North Korea and people stroll the promenade beside the Yalu River within sight of North Korean border guards.
With the peak summer tourism season tapering off, staff at hotels, restaurants and travel agencies say the North’s activities and threats flying between Pyongyang and Washington have had only a minimal impact on public sentiment.
“The nuclear test has had no influence on our lives, ” said a sales manager at the riverside Andongge restaurant, who gave only her surname, Zhang. “Everything goes on as normal.”
Dandong is the largest Chinese city along the border and a key jumping-off point for travel and trade with the North, making it a favored spot for reading the pulse of Chinese feelings toward the once-close, now increasingly frosty relationship between the communist neighbors. The remnants of a bridge bombed by the U. S. during the 1950-53 Korean War, and rebuilt only on the Chinese side, are a reminder of both the conflict that once united the countries and the differences that now exist between them.
