PRC-DPRK: NORTH KOREAN BORDER-CROSSERS; DRUGS; NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000128

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR, PRM, INL, EAP/CM, EAP/K, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION
TAGS: PREF PREL PINR PGOV KWMN KN KS CH
SUBJECT: PRC-DPRK: NORTH KOREAN BORDER-CROSSERS; DRUGS; NEW
BORDER FENCING; PLA ACTIVITY

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. REASONS:
1.4(b)/(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Post contacts report that, at least
anecdotally, the numbers of North Korean border-crossers
encountered this year are fewer than last, though the
overall numbers and reasons for the decline are unclear.
Jilin Province's ongoing anti-drug campaign is netting more
seizures of illegal narcotics, particularly
methamphetamines, from localities along the PRC-DPRK
border. Local officials are highly uncomfortable
discussing specifics. Further south, PRC authorities near
Dandong have extended their border fencing in an area where
Post has also noticed a more robust level of military
activity compared with previous visits in past months,
though this is likely unrelated. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Poloff traveled to a number of points along the PRC-
DPRK border, including Dandong, Donggang and Hushan (June
25-27),as well as Yanji, Nanping and Chongshan (June 18-
21). This is the second of two cables on the border in
mid-2007; the first focused on border trade and PRC
inspections thereof.

NORTH KOREAN BORDER-CROSSERS: SOME ANECDOTAL OBSERVATIONS
-------------- --------------

3. (C) During a June 26 visit to Donggang, a county-level
port city nearly 40 kilometers south of Dandong, Poloff
spotted on the walls of many of the shipyards lining the
thin two-lane road connecting Dandong and Donggang a number
of banners and other posters exhorting residents to
"strictly combat human smuggling" (yanli daji toudu). A
sign on the exterior wall of one shipyard along the Yalu
River warned locals (roughly translated): "Once caught,
alien smugglers hurt themselves, their families and
others." Others mentioned drug and human smuggling
together; many called on locals to help create an "orderly,
safe border." Unlike all others Poloff came across, a
banner further south festooning a People's Armed Police
(PAP) building in Donggang specifically warned against
illegal smuggling that involved North Korean goods and
aliens. Although Donggang falls under Dandong's
administration, no posters/banners are to be seen in
Dandong itself--and thus by the thousands of tourists that
visit during the summer months.


4. (C) Further north, contacts in Yanbian and Shenyang
continue to relate that the numbers of North Korean border-
crossers they are personally encountering this year are
fewer than last. Father Jin (protect) of the Ping'an
Church just outside of Yanji, for example, told Poloff on
June 26 that "not many" border-crossers had come to his
church this month, much less in recent months. "Just
several" showed up in May, he said; none came in June.
Jin, who in the past sheltered several North Koreans for a
number of years and regularly tended to walk-ins, noted
that his May walk-ins were not new arrivals to China. He
said they had actually been in China for "a while" and
largely sought some transportation money. Father LIAN
Changyuan (protect) of Yanji's official Catholic Church,
another clergyman who in the past has given succor to
border-crossers, told Poloff later the same day that he,
too, had recently come across "very few"--especially when
compared to the late 1990s, when he received as many as ten
new arrivals per day in Helong/Longjing, south of Yanji.


5. (C) Others in recent months have reported higher flows.
In early April, for instance, Yanbian University of Science
and Technology (YUST) President James Kim (protect) claimed
to be assisting 100-200 border-crossers per month. Another
knowledgeable YUST professor told Poloff in late June,
however, that there nevertheless seemed to be fewer
arrivals recently, though he was unclear why. Many are
equally uncertain. KIM Jong Han (protect),who handles the
refugee account for the ROK Consulate in Shenyang, has also
noted an anecdotal decrease. In a conversation with Poloff
on June 25, he ascribed the drop-off to strengthened
patrols on both sides of the border since last fall/winter,
but he, too, acknowledged that other factors may be at

SHENYANG 00000128 002 OF 002


play.

NORTH KOREAN DRUGS FURTHER NORTH ALONG THE BORDER
-------------- --------------

6. (C) Months into an anti-drug campaign, authorities in
Jilin Province are announcing more seizures of narcotics
from a number of areas directly along the PRC-DPRK border.
Newspapers in the Yanbian Ethnic Korean Autonomous
Prefecture have recently publicized a spate of busts in
PRC-DPRK border localities (e.g., Helong, Longjing) made
between December and late June--some quite large, often
involving ethnic Korean Chinese caught trafficking
methamphetamines allegedly bought from "people from outside
the (Chinese) border" (jingwai renyuan). On the ground,
small reminders of the drug problem in Yanbian's border
towns are periodically visible. On the road that snakes
along the PRC-DPRK border linking Nanping and Chongshan,
for instance, Poloff on June 21 observed a number of signs
specifically warning that the trafficking of drugs (and
smuggling more generally) is illegal.


7. (C) Jilin officials became noticeably uneasy when asked
about the province's "Spring Thunder" campaign. Jilin
Province's Executive Deputy Governor, TIAN Xueren, told
Poloff on June 1 that the province's drug problem--
particularly the trafficking of methamphetamines--is most
pronounced in the "border region." But Tian, a former
high-level Yanbian official, demurred when pressed on the
source of the drugs afflicting Jilin. He offered only that
the source was "outside of China."

BORDER FENCING EXTENDED NEAR DANDONG
--------------

8. (C) For the first time in many months, PRC authorities
near Dandong have extended fencing on the Chinese side of
the PRC-DPRK border. In Hushan (approximately 20
kilometers north of Dandong) on June 26, Poloff observed a
relatively small new section of fencing added since his
visit in early May. Less than a kilometer long and
identical in structure to the other sections, the new
fencing--unlike other parts of the preexisting stretch in
Hushan--features at least two small built-in doors lockable
with padlocks. Poloff spotted one door wide open; a local
fisherman passed easily through the other, making his way
down to the Yalu River just below.

PLA MILITARY ACTIVITY
--------------

9. (C) Slightly north of Dandong, Poloff continued to
observe a slightly more robust level of military activity
compared with prior visits before May of this year. Along
the Yalu River several kilometers north of Dandong (about
halfway between the city proper and Hushan) Poloff at
approximately 1400 on June 26 observed a People's
Liberation Army (PLA) boating and bridging exercise on the
banks of the Yalu River. Assembled on the riverbank were
approximately two companies of what appeared to be
engineering troops--some wearing life jackets--flanked by a
small number of parked convoy trucks; a number of portable
bridge segments floated in the water. (NOTE: Poloff for
the first time encountered a similar exercise, with
comparable numbers, in the same location on May 8 at
approximately 1000. END NOTE.) Slightly north of the
riverside exercise site, Poloff between 1400 and 1430 in
Hushan observed a convoy of approximately 20-25 PLA
cargo/utility trucks, most without plates and marked as
"practice" vehicles; others contained proper Shenyang
Military Region plates. Meanwhile, a five-person PLA
patrol armed with machine guns walked the PRC-DPRK border
near Hushan.
WICKMAN