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
4 killed by N. Korean border guards while crossing Yalu River
North Korean border guards fired on a group of five North Koreans fleeing over the Yalu River into China in early September, killing four,...
North Korea sentences female drug boss to life in prison
The female leader of a drug smuggling ring and four of her subordinates were recently sentenced to harsh prison time as part of the...
North Korea dispatches 2,000 additional workers to China
At least 2,000 North Korean workers were recently dispatched to factories in China with non-work visas, Daily NK recently learned.
“A huge number of North...
Sinuiju’s increasing role in Sino-North Korean trade
In the early morning of Friday, Oct. 18, the road leading from Sinuiju, North Korea, to Dandong, China, was clogged with North Korean container...
Brother and sister arrested after defection into China
In mid-September, North Korea’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) arrested a brother and sister upon their return to North Korea after living in China...
Sinuiju’s premium apartments see major price spike
The prices of premium apartments being built in Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province, are skyrocketing as they approach completion at the end of this year...
North Korea hands down recall order to all workers in China
Although three months remain until North Korean workers abroad are required to return home in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution, the regime...
Construction continues night and day on Sinuiju apartment building
Efforts appear to be accelerating on the construction of an apartment building in Sinuiju as laborers work on apartment exteriors during the day and...
North Hamgyong Province intensifies inspections of USBs
Customs checkpoints in North Korea are intensifying inspections of handheld data storage devices such as USBs and at times preventing the devices from being...
County MSS director forcibly retired after accepting bribe
A county MSS director was forcibly retired after allegedly accepting a large bribe from a man named Chae, who was arrested in June of...
