The Chinese border patrol is conducting an investigation after dozens of North Koreans were discovered illegally trying to enter China by ship, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, a reporting partner in China told Daily NK on Friday that dozens of North Koreans were handed over to Chinese police after they were arrested while trying to illegally enter the country during the night through a port in southern Liaoning Province.
During questioning, the North Koreans told the Chinese authorities that they cannot make a living in their own country, so they planned to work in China as laborers before returning home.
A reporting partner in North Korea revealed that North Korean authorities were aware that their own nationals were arrested while trying to smuggle themselves into China.
The reporting partner told Daily NK that all vessels departing from a port in North Korea must first inform the Ministry of State Security and border patrol before they can depart. It is thus impossible for a ship big enough to carry dozens of people to leave port without prior permission from the authorities. Given this reality, North Korean authorities may have organized the human smuggling operation.
Given how the North Koreans were caught by the Chinese border patrol not long after they arrived in the country, it is also likely the North Korean government did not come to an agreement with the Chinese about the entry of the workers into China.
A CONTINGENT OF NORTH KOREA’S HACKING ARMY?
All this suggests that the North Koreans arrested by the Chinese are not ordinary workers formally employed at Chinese factories or companies. Rather, they may be computer specialists who engage in illegal cyber activities, living communally in small teams of 10 to 20 in apartments and low-rent housing.
Because ordinary workers have formal contracts with Chinese factories and companies, they are unlikely to smuggle themselves into the country. In contrast, North Korean IT workers who illegally earn foreign currency using China’s Internet network often receive no permits from the Chinese authorities because their overseas status and activities are kept secret.
In fact, Chinese authorities consider these IT workers a headache because they target Chinese individuals and companies for hacking and phishing attacks. That is why North Korea is unable to send its IT personnel into China through official channels, the reporting partner in China told Daily NK.
That all being said, Daily NK was unable to confirm exactly why the North Koreans arrested attempted to smuggle themselves into China.
This latest human smuggling incident may cause diplomatic problems between Pyongyang and Beijing, although the North Koreans will likely pass off the incident as the misdeeds of individuals unconnected with the government, a stance they have taken in the past.
The heads of the South Korean, U.S. and Japanese negotiating teams for the North Korean nuclear issue — Kim Gunn, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs; Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea, and Takehiro Funakoshi, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Japan’s foreign ministry — held trilateral talks in Seoul on Friday morning and pressed the international community to repatriate North Korean workers earning foreign currency overseas in places such as China and Southeast Asia.
North Korean authorities have been unhesitatingly sending North Korean workers overseas to China, Russia, Southeast Asia and elsewhere to earn foreign currency, despite UN Security Council sanctions banning such overseas labor activities. However, attention now focuses on whether this latest incident leads to changes in the Chinese government’s position regarding North Korean workers.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea and China. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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