Mick Hartley

It looks as though China is getting serious about those North Korean sanctions:

North Korean workers have begun to leave the Chinese border city of Dandong, following 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 predominantly in China and Russia, funnel some $500 million in wages a year to help finance the North Korean regime, the U.S. government says.

Dandong, a city of 800,000 along the Yalu river that defines the border with North Korea, is home to many restaurants and hotels that hire North Korean waitresses and musicians. Their colorful song and dance performances are a tourist attraction.

Thousands of predominantly female workers are also employed by Chinese-owned garment and electronics factories in Dandong, with a significant proportion 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.”

Recent 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 Reuters reporter saw a group of around 50 North Korean women waiting to cross the border on Friday morning.

Four traders, who deal in goods ranging from iron ore and seafood to ginseng and alcohol, told Reuters the sanctions had all but crippled the usual trade.

More stringent customs checks and patrols by Chinese border police have also made it harder to smuggle goods across the border, according to the traders, who declined to be named due to the subject’s sensitivity.

“The impact has been huge. Dandong’s economy has always counted on border trade,” said one Chinese trader.

And from the Daily NK:

It has been reported that China’s customs officers have ramped up the level of their inspections focusing on gasoline smuggling by North Korean merchants. The Chinese authorities appear to be taking firm action in accordance with UNSC Resolution 2375 on sanctions against North Korea. 

On September 11, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2375 on sanctions against North Korea which includes a 30% reduction in the supply of oil to North Korea. Following this, China’s customs offices have strengthened inspections focusing on gasoline smuggling from North Korea near the Yalu River.

The efforts are seen as an attempt to discern the scale of gasoline trading in the border areas between China and North Korea prior to setting upper limits on export volumes of refined petroleum products to North Korea, which will be imposed from October 1 according to the UNSC resolution.

At the Quanhe Customs Office in Hunchun City, Jilin Province, the officials are said to be conducting high-intensity inspections on every truck going into North Korea, carefully scrutinizing every vehicle individually. In the past, Chinese traders were able to load gasoline in oil drums when entering North Korea, but this practice is no longer permitted.

A source familiar with North Korean affairs in China told Daily NK on September 25, "The Chinese customs officers are strictly prohibiting Chinese traders from bringing sanctioned items into North Korea. They are scrutinizing all parts of the trading trucks and demanding them to give a detailed explanation if even a small amount of gasoline is found during the inspection."

A similar turn of events is occurring in Dandong, Liaoning Province, according to a separate source in the region. The Chinese authorities have reportedly begun inspecting even small vessels on the Yalu River in order to thoroughly block potential routes for gasoline smuggling.

Daily NK recently reported that a vehicle smuggling route near the New Yalu River Bridge has also been blocked with a pile of earth. 

Credit to Trump. If only he'd stop conducting his foreign policy by Twitter….