PRC-DPRK: BORDER INSPECTIONS AND TRADE ISSUES IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHENYANG 000126 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INR, EAP/CM, EAP/K E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION TAGS: PREL PINR PGOV ECON KN KS CH SUBJECT: PRC-DPRK: BORDER INSPECTIONS AND TRADE ISSUES IN JUNE 2007 Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. REASONS: 1.4(b)/(d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Official Chinese scrutiny of land-based PRC-DPRK cargo/passenger traffic continues to range along the border into mid-2007. Land ports in Nanping (conduit for the many tons of iron ore extracted from North Korea's Musan mine) and Dandong are sites of significant levels of activity. Yanbian-based contacts with recent experience in shipping goods across the border report that they have not encountered any changes in Chinese procedures or slowdowns in land shipments this year. Sources elsewhere in Yanbian dismiss recent media reports about the impending establishment of a PRC-DPRK "free trade zone" in Tumen; they note instead the growing frustration of Tumen officials, who sense the DPRK is stalling on--and possibly obfuscating about--the proposal, which in actuality calls for a barter-trade area. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Poloff traveled to a number of key points along the PRC-DPRK border, including Dandong, Donggang and Hushan (June 25-27),as well as Yanji, seat of the Yanbian Ethnic Korean Autonomous Prefecture; Nanping, across from Musan, home to the largest iron mine in North Korea, also among Asia's largest; and Chongshan, which abuts Samjang (June 18-21). This is the first of two cables; the second examines several discrete issues, including North Korean border-crossers and narcotics, among others. CROSS-BORDER TRADE AND INSPECTIONS: THREE PORTS -------------- -- ¶3. (C) DANDONG/SINUIJU. Activity at the Dandong Land Port on the morning of June 27 appeared more robust than Poloff's recent visits during the same periods of the day. Between 1000 and 1030, nearly 30 mostly large, closed Japanese-made North Korean container trucks crossed from Sinuiju into Dandong, where 40-50 North Korean trucks that had crossed earlier that morning sat parked, queuing to exit the port. Quarantine personnel sprayed a disinfectant on the tires of incoming trucks; PRC customs officials inspected North Korean drivers' paperwork and quickly gazed into many cargo holds. Another quarantine official waved what appeared to be a small, hand-held meter/gauge outside the holds of a handful of trucks. Poloff also observed one North Korean driver that had just cleared customs quickly stop just two meters away from PRC customs and People's Armed Police (PAP) personnel, extract two large metal cylinders and a bag hidden near his tires and slyly pass them to a waiting Chinese partner who quickly sidled off with the goods. No one took any notice. PRC scrutiny seemed to decrease when, between 1030 and 1130, approximately 175 mostly large, closed Chinese container trucks--perhaps half of them sporting pre-clearance tags-- crossed into Sinuiju virtually uninspected. The few open- bed Chinese trucks among this group carried everything from heavy machinery to fruit and electronics; three Chinese also drove over the border in new ROK-made forklifts. Customs performed no visible inspections of most Sinuiju- bound cargo traffic, but a quarantine official did pull over the sole North Korean truck Poloff spotted crossing back home that hour. ¶4. (C) CHONGSHAN/SAMJANG. Cross-border traffic proved almost incomparably lighter many hundreds of kilometers north at Chongshan--a small border locality nearly 150 kilometers south of Yanji and across the Tumen River from Samjang in the DPRK. Between 1015 and 1030 on June 21, three large, empty North Korean container trucks crossed back into North Korea from Chongshan's Guchengli Land Port, subject to no visible inspections by the sole Chinese PAP guard stationed on the Chinese side of the short bridge connecting the two countries. North Korean border guards on the other side proved far more interested in the returning trucks and searched each of the cabs for several minutes. Poloff observed a fairly heavy security (i.e., PAP) presence in Chongshan, which without the land port is essentially a compact assemblage of homes and shops. ¶5. (C) NANPING/MUSAN. Nearly 50 kilometers north of Chongshan in Nanping--across from Musan--PAP guards on June 21 requested that Poloff leave the port facility after just SHENYANG 00000126 002 OF 003 five minutes of observation starting at 0915. The bridge had no traffic at the time, and one PAP guard said Poloff had just missed the morning rush. But earlier that morning between 0830 and 0900 on the small, two-lane road from Yanji to Nanping, Poloff spotted at least ten of the Yanbian Tianchi Industrial Trade Company's distinctive red, open-container trucks that cart Musan's ore across the border to Tianchi's nearby processing facility. Later in the morning, looking across into Musan proper while on the road to Chongshan, Poloff also observed at least ten (empty) Tianchi trucks slowly winding their way toward the Musan mine. A high-level Chinese official in the office overseeing the administration of Yanbian's ports told Poloff later on June 21 that the outflow from Musan continues to be significant, though flows often vary on any given day. INSPECTIONS IN YANBIAN: A FOREIGNER'S EXPERIENCE -------------- --- ¶6. (C) A Yanbian-based Western NGO worker who periodically ships construction supplies and humanitarian goods to the DPRK told Poloff on June 21 about inspection procedures near Hunchun. When shipping large quantities of goods to Rason via container truck, our source has been required to hire a local customs agent who helps prepare the requisite paperwork and (nebulously) "facilitate" the shipment. Once loaded but before heading to the border, the cargo truck must appear at an official facility approximately 40 kilometers outside of Hunchun. The truck is met by the customs agent--with paperwork in hand--and must then drive through a large detector/scanning machine of sorts before being considered "sealed." No additional physical inspection takes place, and the truck is then directed to the Quanhe Land Port, where the paperwork is checked, and then passes into the DPRK and on to Rason. In our source's experience, transporting goods by van/car is far easier because passenger vehicles have not been subject to the comparatively more rigorous procedures for cargo trucks. Pro-forma paperwork is required, for example, but hiring a customs agent is not. ¶7. (C) Echoing remarks by other contacts recently involved in cross-border shipping, our source had encountered no changes in procedures on the Chinese side, nor any slowdowns in shipments over the past few months. North Korean border officials, in our source's experience, have proven far more scrupulous than the Chinese side. Upon arriving on the DPRK side, for instance, North Korean border officials have actually climbed into her cargo truck, eyeballing goods and then (presumably) logging their findings into a computer system. Our source noted, too, that North Korean quarantine officials have at times proven surprisingly fussy about accepting certain agricultural products. A fellow NGO worker recently attempted to bring large quantities of crop seeds--to grow food--into the North via Quanhe, only to have them refused by North Korean quarantine authorities at the PRC-DPRK border, our source recalled. DIM OUTLOOK FOR PRC-DPRK TRADE ZONE IN TUMEN/NAMYANG -------------- -------------- ¶8. (C) Contacts in Yanbian claim that recent ROK press reports about the impending establishment of a PRC-DPRK "free trade zone" in Tumen/Namyang are incorrect. Yanbian University DPRK experts GAO Jingzhu and LIAN Changhao on June 20 told Poloff that Tumen's actual proposal, made to DPRK authorities between 2006 and 2007, merely envisions a barter-trade zone. The high-level official overseeing Yanbian's ports on June 21 confirmed this and dismissed the proposed zone as something that will probably never actually be realized. Local DPRK officials' promises about the possibility of establishing the zone are not "credible," the official grumbled, and Pyongyang's approval has not been forthcoming. Several Tumen officials were recently taken aback during a recent bilateral negotiating session when they discovered that the North Koreans seemed to have greatly exaggerated the likely speed of Pyongyang's approval of--and the amount of preparatory work they had actually been doing for--the zone, Gao Jingzhu noted. Tumen officials remain hopeful that a PRC-DPRK barter-trade zone could help stimulate the local economy, but Gao, Lian SHENYANG 00000126 003.2 OF 003 and others cautioned that these types of proposals often turn out to be local PRC officials' attempts to pad their resumes with non-substantive, prestige projects. WICKMAN