LATE AUGUST TRIP TO THE DPRK/CHINA/RUSSIA BORDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHENYANG 000175

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2017
TAGS: PREF PREL PINR PGOV KS KN CH
SUBJECT: LATE AUGUST TRIP TO THE DPRK/CHINA/RUSSIA BORDER
AREA

REF: (A) SHENYANG 28 (B) SHENYANG 145

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

1.(C) Summary. Recent visits by the Consul General,s to
Jilin City, Changchun and the ethnic Korean enclaves near the
DPRK border offered a window on conditions along the
Sino-North Korean border. Senior officials said the economy
in the border areas had improved and that undocumented
immigration had abated or was under control. Other contacts,
however, admitted that the border was porous, trade stagnant,
and the DPRK economy stressed by the poor harvest and new
floods. End Summary.

2.(U) Taking advantage of a trip to the Third Annual
Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo in Changchun,
capital of Jilin Province, the Consul General paid brief
visits to Jilin City and three towns in the Yanbian Ethnic
Korean Autonomous Prefecture -- Yanji, Tumen, and Hunchun --
August 28-September 2. We were permitted to drive the CG,s
vehicle only as far as Jilin City, traveling to Yanji by air
and driving to the other towns accompanied by Foreign Affairs
Office (FAO) officials in their vehicles (para 14, below).

Yanji
--------------
3.(C) In an August 30 meeting, Yanbian Party Secretary Deng
Kai (Han ethnicity) and Vice Governor Li Longxi (Korean,
until recently Jilin,s Vice Governor) stressed the growing
prosperity of their region. More than USD one billion in
remittances poured into Yanbian last year, and per capita
bank balances and consumption spending was as high or higher
than in Changchun. They reported that trade with North Korea
continued to increase, while conditions in the border areas
had improved from the crisis years of the early 1990s.

4.(C) Yanji Party Secretary Jin Yongmo (Korean) went on in a
similar vein, at the same time enthralling our FAO handlers
-- none of whom had ever met the earthy cadre ) with tales
from his old border haunt of Helong City. (At one point
during dinner Jin launched into an impassioned plea for
Communist Party responsiveness to the needs of the people and
the imperative to rout out corruption in all its forms. This
emboldened one of the FAO officers humbly to request that
Yanji,s old fleet of small-size &coaster8 class buses be
replaced with full-sized models, even if profits were
reduced. Jin was very receptive.)

5.(C) Taking his cue from his bosses, FAO Chief Xu Zhengbing
(ethnic Korean) used the occasion of an informal farewell
dinner to debunk the &inflated8 reports on the number of
&illegal8 migrants from North Korea reportedly living in
the area. At various times during the long event he said:
&We ethnic Koreans can tell at a glance -- or certainly as
soon as they open their mouths to speak -- when someone is
from North Korea. How could there be tens of thousands of
such people in Yanji or the Yanbian area without our knowing
it? In the early 1990s, North Korean beggars were a common
sight everywhere. We used to give them and our relatives
across the border food and assistance in kind; now we just
send them money. There,s a real cash economy in the DPRK
now and they can get anything they want. We can tell you the
real numbers privately, but we can,t condone these wild
exaggerations from South Korean and other media.8

6.(C) Our FAO hosts also insisted that the Yanbian
authorities treated any migrants detained on the Chinese side
humanely. When we noted our concern over the fate of the
migrants when they were returned to North Korea, Xu said the
horror stories regarding harsh treatment were either
exaggerations or things of the past; the DPRK had become
quite tolerant. Xu said his staff had investigated one case
brought to their attention by the South Korean Embassy in
Beijing and found the charges to be completely bogus.


7. (C) On the road the next day, Ms. Chi Yanhua, a
Japanese-speaking FAO official from Hunchun who maintains
frequent contact with relatives in the DPRK and who has
traveled to Pyongyang recently, sounded a slightly different

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note. She said the border was essentially &unguarded8 on
the Chinese side and that North Koreans came across
frequently to engage in petty thievery or find work. Often
they would steal a cell phone, use it while they were in
China, then sell it to another migrant before crossing back.
She recounted one story in which a DPRK &migrant8 had
pedaled a stolen bicycle 50 kilometers across the border
together with a his haul of only a few hundred renminbi.


Tumen
--------------

8. (C) Tumen Party Secretary Piao Songlie (ethnic Korean)
insisted that trade with North Korea was developing steadily
across the narrow bridge into Onchon on the DPRK side of the
river, but he was eager to change the subject. Vice Mayor Yan
Zhihong was somewhat more affable, but he focused on the
business opportunities in Tumen. This included a thriving
vocational training school set up by a Korean-American from
Los Angeles that brought in children from all over Jilin and
even Heilongjiang, teaching vocational skills and providing
assistance in obtaining jobs in South China, Korea, and
Japan. (See ref A for more details.)


9. (C) During an aside at the Tumen River land port (on the
bridge at about 10:30 on August 31) the senior border patrol
officer in charge (apparently an ethnic Han) said traffic was
slow of late and that rail trade had trailed completely off.
He noted that trucks from Tumen could only drive as far as
Namyang, where goods we offloaded onto Korean vehicles. He
also said there was a large market in the DPRK port of
Rajin-Sonbong where packages were broken down for sale and
distribution elsewhere in the country. We were on the bridge
for only about 20 minutes or so, during which one jeep
crossed ) a returning Chinese vehicle. We left one group of
three peasants (apparently North Korean) huddled at the
customs shack on the Chinese side clutching a few cardboard
boxes of goods.


10. (C) On our way out of Tumen, Ms. Chi pointed out the
border patrol detention center where DPRK &illegAls8 were
housed prior to their return to North Korea. She said it was
a pity that her repeated attempts to gain permission for us
to visit the site had failed, since the treatment there was
really outstanding. She said she even knew of a Tibetan
migrant who had pretended to be North Korean so he could
spend time in the facility and get three square meals and a
comfortable place to stay until he was found out and sent
packing.

Hunchun
--------------

11. (C) Hunchun Mayor Jin Xiangzhen (ethnic Korean) seemed
more comfortable than his poorer Tumen cousins during a
meeting and luncheon that trumpeted prospects for development
of his obviously vibrant city. On the road back from the
fortified point where North Korea, Russia and China come
together at the mouth of the river, we saw three, half-size
containers coming crossing back into China from the land port
leading, eventually, to Rason. Mayor Jin had complained that
the road was nearly impassable and said he continued to seek
agreement with the DPRK on funding a road-building project.
But Hunchun had to use the Rajin-Sonbong port (?) because
capacity at the Russian port (do you mean Hunchun,s land
port to Russia?)was also limited.


12. (C) At Hunchun,s land port to Russia about 30 minutes
before closing (4 pm) the same day, we saw two full-sized
containers just before they crossed into Russia. Mayor Jin
had complained about &laziness,8 unnecessary checkpoints
and paperwork on the Russian side, as well as a lingering
dispute between the state-owned Russian National Railroad and
the &private8 investor in charge of the railway to the
Zarubino port prevented maintenance and expansion of the
infrastructure. (A few days later in Changchun, the Russian
Deputy Consul General said he thought the dispute would be
settled &soon.8)

Changchun
--------------

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13. (C) On September 1, Jilin Academy of Social Sciences
(JASS) President, Doctor Bing Zheng (Han Chinese) told us he
had noticed a marked improvement in economic conditions in
North Korea during his second visit to the country in
December 2006. At the formal seminars in Pyongyang, the
North Korean side had even presented data showing that their
agricultural harvest had reached their targets. Privately,
however, Dr. Bing said his contacts admitted the harvest was
much lower than the previous year, adding that the recent
floods had dealt a serious blow to the economy. Dr. Bing had
postponed until mid-September a JASS-sponsored symposium on
developments in Northeast Asia so that the DPRK side could
participate, but he said he had just been informed that the
scholars had to remain in Korea to help with reconstruction
activities.

Some Roads Are More Open than Others
--------------

14. (C) As usual in this part of China, obtaining approval to
drive our consular vehicle became an odyssey of its own. In
early August, we had requested permission to drive our
vehicle from Shenyang to all the points in our itinerary, but
Jilin FAO informed us late in the month that &Beijing8 had
not approved our driving beyond Changchun. When we said we
were going to check with Beijing and hinted we might call off
the trip, Jilin FAO said they had not really asked the
central government but based their decision on regulations
requiring that the Liaoning FAO approve and notify them
directly. When we asked Liaoning, they seemed mystified at
first but then regretfully informed us ) again at the
eleventh hour -- that they could only secure approval from
the &relevant authorities8 to drive as far as Jilin. The
expressway from Jilin to Yanji was not finished, and they
said the decision was to ensure our safety. On the road, our
contacts told us the expressway is due to open in the autumn
of 2008. We can hardly wait.
WICKMAN