China is North Korea’s most important economic partner, diplomatic protector, and geographic neighbor, sharing a 1,400-kilometer border along the Yalu and Tumen rivers. Daily NK covers North Korea China relations across multiple dimensions — bilateral trade and smuggling, the treatment of North Korean defectors in China, Beijing’s enforcement of UN sanctions, and the strategic calculations behind China’s support for the Kim regime. Our border-region sources provide unmatched ground-level insight into one of the world’s most consequential and opaque bilateral relationships.
Tag: china
North Koreans split on Xi Jinping visit rumors as border trade...
Rumors of a possible visit to North Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping are spreading inside the country, stirring a mix of hope and...
North Korea ramps up Chinese medical equipment imports amid healthcare modernization...
North Korea is importing a growing volume of Chinese medical equipment as authorities push to modernize healthcare facilities nationwide, with demand for pharmaceutical packaging...
Chinese smugglers foiled at North Korea border despite hopes for post-Trump...
Chinese smugglers along the Jilin province border with North Korea attempted to move goods across the river on the nights of May 20 and...
North Korean defectors in China alarmed as Kuaishou messages reach police
Chinese authorities are monitoring North Korean defectors through Kuaishou, a popular Chinese short-video and messaging platform, raising alarm among defectors hiding in China.
According to...
China recruits North Korean defectors as informants to trap escape brokers
Chinese police are recruiting North Korean defectors living in China as informants and using them to infiltrate defector escape networks, leading to the arrest...
North Korean street food finds market across the border in China
Ethnic Chinese residents of North Korea are carrying Chongjin-made soy meat and fried tofu across the border into China and selling them there, turning...
North Korea turns to China for cement as domestic output falls...
North Korea has significantly increased imports of Chinese cement since May 2026, as a sweeping regional construction campaign strains domestic production beyond its limits,...
Chongjin households work through the night on wigs and eyelashes to...
Wig and eyelash assembly work has taken off as a cottage industry in Chongjin, North Korea's third-largest city, as intensifying market controls and rising...
North Korea expands minerals-for-investment deals with Chinese partners
North Korea is expanding a minerals-for-investment arrangement with Chinese partners, offering raw tungsten and molybdenum ore as payment for mining equipment and capital. Trading...
North Korea’s pet industry takes off as Kim Jong Un visit...
North Korea's state-linked trading companies imported dozens of pet dogs from China in 2026, in a significant and unusual expansion of the country's nascent...
