North Korea recently smuggled in relief supplies to flood-stricken regions of Jagang province, including many items subject to international sanctions on the country.
A source in North Pyongan province said recently that “many recovery supplies entered the country through the customs house in Sinuiju on Sept. 18” and that it “took six hours for all the supplies to enter.” In other words, so many supplies came from China that it took from 6 a.m. to noon to import them all.
Items that passed through customs at Sinuiju included building supplies for homes, roads and factories, parts for construction equipment and foodstuffs.
Specifically, architectural rebar, steel, aluminum, waterproofing supplies, road paving equipment, excavator and crane parts, truck tires and high-pressure pumps were imported through so-called state smuggling.
U.N. Security Council resolution 2379, adopted in December 2017, forbids exporting or transferring all industrial machinery, transportation equipment, steel and other metals to North Korea.
Because many of the imported items were subject to sanctions, the North Koreans chose to bring them into the country through state smuggling. The Daily NK could not confirm just how much material was imported, but the source said 14 ten-ton trucks carried the cargo into the country.
The Daily NK understands that the supplies were imported through state smuggling led by the trade management bureau of Jagang province and passed through Sinuiju customs with the help of North Pyongan province.
The authorities gave the customs house in Sinuiju little advance warning, suddenly informing it just seven hours before the smuggling operation began.
The authorities appear to have issued relevant orders only on the day of the operation to prevent word of the state smuggling from leaking.
In fact, the trade management bureau of Jagang province originally tried to import the relief items through the local customs house in Manpo because the goods were supplies the province needed for flood recovery efforts.
However, Chinese traders asked to transport the cargo through the Dandong-Sinuiju route because roads in Tonghua, Jilin province, were damaged in the recent flooding.
In response, the trade management bureau of Jagang province asked North Pyongan province for cooperation and imported the supplies through the customs house in Sinuiju.
Severe flood damage to munitions factories in Jagang province
Meanwhile, the North Korean authorities have not revealed the exact extent of flood damage in Jagang province, but it was reportedly so severe that relief work remains at its height even two months later.
With damage to munition factories in the province especially severe, the authorities reportedly imported large amounts of construction supplies needed to rebuild the plants through the latest state smuggling operation.
The source said the authorities also plan to provide munition factory workers with the foodstuffs imported by Jagang province’s trade management bureau.
“Flood damage in Jagang province was more severe than you’d think,” the source said. “Several more imports of such supplies will be needed to provide all the material needed to recover from the flood damage.”
The Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
