North Korea and China will possibly resume trade along their border before April 15, according to various South Korean media outlets. This is North Korea’s annual holiday called the “Day of the Sun,” which celebrates the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder and “Eternal President” of North Korea.
South Korea’s Yonhap News reported that, according to a source, “the border between China and North Korea, which was closed due to Covid-19, is expected to reopen this month.” The source added that the railways will open first and the two countries will begin transporting important items at first. “The Covid-19 situation has improved this year and there is an atmosphere that the two countries are continuing with their negotiation on resuming the trade.”
North Korea started shutting down the border with China starting in January last year, and trade relations between the two countries nearly came to a complete stop in August, when Kim Jong-un said it will take tough quarantine measures to combat Covid-19.
“Trade between the two countries can easily begin again if China starts processing items through the customs process,” the source told Yonhap. “If North Korea decides to do so, it will be a matter of time for the border to reopen.”
Japanese media outlets also reported that there are signs that China is planning on shipping various items, particularly aid goods, across the border. They said that China is expected to ship these items using trains starting this month.
Due to the border closure, trade between North Korea and China dropped significantly. According to the Chinese government, the official trade between the two countries dropped 80.67 percent year-on-year to $539.05 million (593.9 billion won) in 2020. North Korea imported $491 million worth of goods from China in 2020, which was a decrease of 80.92 percent compared to the previous year. North Korea’s exports to China fell by 77.69 percent to $48 million. The trade volume between the two countries in December, in particular, fell 98.21 percent year-on-year. Pyongyang and Beijing reported trade volume of $3.27 million during the first two months of this year, down 98.4 percent from $207.9 million last year.
There are many signs that show North Korea’s paranoia about Covid-19. Recently, North Korea said it will skip the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo. “We decided not to participate in the 32nd Olympic Games during the [March 25] general assembly to protect our athletes from the global health crisis situation related to the coronavirus as proposed by committee members,” the North Korea’s Olympic Committee said.
North Korea’s Covid-19 situation is barely known. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on April 7 that a total of 22,389 North Koreans have been tested, and none of them were found to have Covid-19. The WHO added that more than 700 people are getting tested per week in North Korea. However, there are many people who are suspicious about the statistics provided by the WHO, especially when it comes to a pariah state like North Korea.
Meanwhile, the Japanese media outlet Sankei Biz reported in December that there were new signs on the North Korean side of the border saying, “Caution Land Mines,” which were not there in the summer of 2020. According to the report, barbed-wire fences were installed near the North Korean side of the Yalu River that divides the North and China. There were warning signs about land mines written in Korean attached to the fences. The report added that other posters and slogans said “Let’s protect the border of the motherland rigorously.”
The Japanese media outlet said that it was not able to confirm whether land mines were actually installed. However, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in November that North Korea has a trauma-like fear of Covid-19, and that Pyongyang has shut down the border and installed land mines in certain areas along the border with China. “They made it possible to have senior officials be sentenced to death if they fail to manage Covid-19, as is stated in the emergency quarantine law,” the NIS said at that time. “They are applying military law to those who violate rules related to managing coronavirus.”
According to Ha Tae-kyung, a lawmaker from South Korea’s main opposition People Power Party who was informed about the North Korean situation by the NIS, one of the North Korean official documents used during a Workers’ Party’s meeting used phrases like “it will be a big tragedy if coronavirus enters the country,” “we don’t know whether 300,000 people or 500,000 would die from it,” and “there is zero way to respond to coronavirus in North Korea.”
The Japanese media report added that there are some who argue that one of the other purposes of the reported land mine emplacement is to prevent North Korean nationals from defecting to China. The report said this issue caused some concerns among Chinese officials. “If this is true, it is the same as a hostile act, and it is acting against basic ethics,” a Chinese official told the Sankei Biz. “Are they thinking about shutting down the border permanently?”
