{"id":45630,"date":"2020-07-15T16:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T07:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=45630"},"modified":"2020-07-14T16:54:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T07:54:19","slug":"north-korea-purchases-premium-construction-materials-from-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-purchases-premium-construction-materials-from-china\/","title":{"rendered":"N. Korea purchases &#8220;premium&#8221; construction materials from China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After grinding to a halt to prevent the spread of COVID-19, there are signs that trade between North Korea and China is slowly recovering, with North Korea recently purchasing a large quantity of premium construction materials from China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTwenty or thirty large container trucks from Dandong in Liaoning Province recently entered Sinuiju,\u201d a source based in China told Daily NK on Sunday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSome of these trucks were carrying construction materials, and a significant portion of the materials are premium products that North Korea cannot produce on its own,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cIt is unclear why the government is spending so much on expensive materials when the people are struggling and don\u2019t even have enough food.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily NK was unable to identify whether the construction materials were actually produced in China or produced in another country and supplied to North Korea through China.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea is prohibited from importing construction materials due to international sanctions. Since the country is having difficulty obtaining sufficient construction materials due to the closure of the Sino-North Korean border, China may be supplying the materials through some sort of agreement between the two countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An investigation by Daily NK found that the deadline for the construction of Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, which was originally set for April this year, has been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wonsan-kalma-project-workers-sent-pyongyang-hospital-project\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pushed back<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to October. The modernization of Samjiyon, which was scheduled to finish in October, also faces similar challenges to be completed on time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Faced with difficulties sourcing construction materials, North Korea <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-importing-construction-materials-china\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">secretly purchased<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> construction materials and electronics last month alongside imports of condiments and soybean oil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u201cpremium\u201d nature of the materials purchased on this occasion suggests that they are for the special residences (luxurious mansions) of the Kim family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPremium materials obtained from overseas are never used in ordinary construction projects,\u201d a source in North Korea told Daily NK. \u201cThese materials are likely to be used for the Majon residence.\u201d The Majon residence is a luxurious villa that Kim Il Sung used to stay at with his grandchildren Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong and Kim Jong Chul.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Majon residence has been undergoing remodeling work since October last year,\u201d the source said. \u201cThe purchase likely involves materials that suit Kim Jong Un\u2019s taste.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The source also noted that \u201cpremium materials for special residences are obtained through Bureau 39 or companies that earn foreign currency under the Central Committee\u201d and that \u201cthese are highly important and sensitive projects, so those in charge really have to stick their necks out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea originally closed the Sino-North Korean border and temporarily halted trade in January to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Trade between the two countries seems to be picking up recently, however.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A report published by the IBK North Korea Economic Research Center on June 25 noted that \u201cafter falling to a record low due to the repercussions of the closed border, we are seeing a clear recovery in North Korea-China trade.\u201d The report went on to state that \u201calthough [trade] remains at only a quarter of levels witnessed in May of last year, trade has increased by 163.8% compared to the past month.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/%E5%8C%97-%EA%B3%A0%EA%B8%89-%EA%B1%B4%EC%84%A4%EC%9E%90%EC%9E%AC-%EB%B0%80%EC%88%98%EA%B9%80%EC%A0%95%EC%9D%80-%ED%8A%B9%EA%B0%81-%EB%A6%AC%EB%AA%A8%EB%8D%B8%EB%A7%81%E7%94%A8\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After grinding to a halt to prevent the spread of COVID-19, there are signs that trade between North Korea and China is slowly recovering, with North Korea recently purchasing a large quantity of premium construction materials from China. \u201cTwenty or thirty large container trucks from Dandong in Liaoning Province recently entered Sinuiju,\u201d a source based [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":45631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[140,222],"class_list":["post-45630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-construction","tag-border"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N. 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