North Korean authorities have recently begun efforts to expand trade with China following moves by the Chinese government to relax its “zero COVID” policy, Daily NK has learned.
According to a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong Province last Wednesday, North Korean authorities ordered all trading agencies to submit their trading plans for the first half of next year by the end of December.
The order was focused on determining which import items must enter the country first. In fact, officials have been begging provinces and trading agencies to submit well-crafted plans for “realistic exports and absolutely necessary imports,” the source said.
In the order, the authorities reportedly mentioned “Chinese COVID policies” and the “relaxing of lockdowns in China.”
However, the authorities also reportedly made clear that the order does not mean that “[the country] will immediately open the border or customs.”
This suggests the authorities plan to watch the situation for a while given the growing chaos in China, which has experienced skyrocketing numbers of infections and deaths since Beijing announced a loosening of its coronavirus prevention measures.
In fact, North Korean authorities reportedly warned in the order that if local governments, companies or trading firms “rashly” engage in trade along the border without state permission just because China is easing its lockdowns, they will face “the most harsh administrative punishments possible.”
In response to the recent order, North Hamgyong Province has begun drawing up a potential trading plan and selecting competitive export items, the source told Daily NK.
Specifically, provincial authorities ordered trading companies to prepare salted pollack, packaged crab meat and dried clams for export.
Provincial authorities have also begun securing supplies of dried pine mushrooms, salted pine mushrooms and medicinal herbs, all of which are popular among Chinese consumers.
Provincial trading agencies have also crafted plans to confirm current stores of frozen pollack, herring, sole and sandfish at their subsidiary fishing bases, and for fishing boats to begin fishing operations.
The province is also holding discussions to ensure that factories and enterprises taking part in export production preparations can produce for over 10 hours a day, with laborers working in shifts.
In short, North Hamgyong Province is taking into account infrastructure-related matters such as electricity and manufacturing equipment, and recruiting female labor needed to process seafood products.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2371 bans North Korea from exporting seafood.
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