The North Korea border with China stretches roughly 1,400 kilometers along the Yalu and Tumen rivers and serves as the country’s economic lifeline — a conduit for trade, smuggling, information, and human movement that the regime simultaneously depends on and fears. Daily NK has reported on the North Korea border since 2004, drawing on sources in the border cities of Hyesan, Sinuiju, Hoeryong, and Manpo to track the flow of goods, currency, and people across one of the world’s most heavily militarized frontiers. Our coverage spans legitimate trade, state-sanctioned smuggling, defection attempts, border security crackdowns, and the cat-and-mouse dynamic between ordinary North Koreans and the regime’s enforcement apparatus.
Tag: border
N. Korean smuggler executed after crossing Sino-North Korean border
A smuggler in his 50s was recently executed in North Pyongan Province, sources told Daily NK earlier this month. The man was accused of...
N. Korean company continues smuggling over Chinese border
A North Korean trading company that smuggled South Korean masks through a customs office in Sinuiju in early February is still smuggling in face...
Sources: Musan Mine operating at less than half of full capacity
The continued closure of the Sino-North Korean border has led to a near shutdown of Musan Mine, North Korea’s largest iron mine, Daily NK...
N. Korea threatens use of weapons to control border with China
North Korea’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) recently sent an official complaint to Chinese authorities criticizing their complacency in policing the Sino-North Korean border...
N. Korea refuses repatriation of defectors imprisoned in Dandong
North Korea's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has refused the repatriation of North Korean defectors currently imprisoned in a facility in Dandong, China, Daily...
N. Korea orders major organizations to fend for themselves
North Korea has ordered major provincial organizations, military-run factories and other facilities to prepare a months' worth of food, signalling that the state is...
N. Korea shuts down transit in and out of Sinuiju
North Korean authorities in Sinuiju have shut down transit in and out of the city presumably as part of efforts to prevent the spread...
China rejects N. Korean request to restart trade across border
The Chinese government recently rejected a North Korean request to restart trade across the two country's border by Feb. 15, Daily NK has learned.
The...
N. Korea uses military law to punish smuggling on border
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered that smuggling in the border areas as well as the abetting or concealing of such activities...
N. Korea’s security agency executes China-based informant
A North Korean informant in China was recently recalled by the Ministry of State Security (MSS) and executed in early February, Daily NK sources...
