PRC-DPRK BORDER TIGHTENS PRE-OLYMPICS: DPRK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000103 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/K, EAP/CM, PRM, DRL C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (TEXT CHANGE PARA 2) E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION TAGS: PREL PINR PGOV PREF ASEC KN CH SUBJECT: PRC-DPRK BORDER TIGHTENS PRE-OLYMPICS: DPRK BORDER-CROSSERS, SECURITY, TOURISM SHENYANG 00000103 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. REASONS: 1.4(b)/(d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Local officials confirm they have taken measures to "strengthen control" of the PRC-DPRK border region during the Olympics. New checkpoints have been established outside some sensitive border cities. The PRC "through diplomatic channels" requested that the DPRK stem border-crossings in August; one border official claimed a North Korean official assured his Chinese counterpart that the DPRK will impose harsher punishment for those caught crossing illegally during the Olympics. Officials unanimously assert that PRC-DPRK trade will continue as usual during the Olympics. Some PRC border localities, however, have suspended cross-border tourism via land ports during the Olympics in order to minimize foreign tourism in sensitive areas of the border. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Poloff traveled July 20-25 to the PRC-DPRK borderlands of Jilin Province. Sites visited included Yanji, seat of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture; Nanping, across from the DPRK's Musan; Sanhe, near Hoeryong; Changchun, capital of Jilin Province; Baishan, which administers PRC land ports leading to Hyesan and Chunggang; and Ji'an, across from Manp'o. NEW CHECKPOINTS, ROADBLOCKS AND OLYMPICS SECURITY -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) With the Olympics drawing near, PRC authorities have taken a range of measures to further tighten security in the PRC-DPRK border region stretching from Yanbian south to Ji'an. Poloff observed new roadblocks and security checkpoints both along the border and on the outskirts of gateway cities. In Yanbian, for instance, approximately ten kilometers outside of both Helong and Longjing-- gateways to Nanping/Musan and Sanhe/Hoeryong, respectively- -checkpoints manned by Public Security Bureau officers on July 22 pulled over cars for speeding. Officers also thoroughly scoured the trunks and interiors of all cars Poloff saw pulled over. On the road from Longjing south to the border port of Sanhe, Poloff later the same day encountered a new camouflage-painted People's Liberation Army (PLA) checkpoint-trailer manned by armed soldiers. ¶4. (C) Security proved particularly tight in Ji'an. Ten kilometers north of the entrance to the city on July 24, Poloff encountered a major new checkpoint staffed by eight to ten People's Armed Police (PAP) Border Defense officers, several armed with machine guns. Officers stopped Poloff's car, questioned the driver and checked all passengers' identification before letting the vehicle proceed. Inside Ji'an July 24-25, red banners exhorted residents to "create a stable border" for a "safe Olympics." Ji'an border residents we talked to all spoke of an increased security presence in the area, remarks echoed throughout the week by residents elsewhere along the border in Yanbian and Baishan. BORDER OPEN DURING OLYMPICS, BUT SOME TOURISM CURTAILED -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Officials from Dandong north to Yanbian dismissed media reports that PRC-DPRK border bridges are to be closed during the Olympics. In Yanbian, a senior official in the prefecture's port authority claimed July 21 that PRC-DPRK trade in Yanbian will proceed as usual during the Olympics. Several hundred kilometers south of Yanbian in Baishan, Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) Director WANG Hongwei (PROTECT) noted July 24 that the city government has no plans to disrupt border trade, which will be "normal" in August. Farther south in the strategic trading thoroughfare of Dandong, trade will also continue during the Olympics, YANG Wenjia (PROTECT),Chief of the Foreign Trade Administration Section of the city's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau told Poloff in Shenyang, July 18. ¶6. (C) Some PRC border localities have suspended cross- SHENYANG 00000103 002 OF 002 border tourism via land ports during the Olympics. DING Pengjiang (PROTECT),Director of Baishan's Tourism Bureau, told Poloff privately July 24 that Baishan has stopped all cross-border tourism within Baishan's jurisdiction-- including for local Chinese--because of the Olympics. A new airport scheduled for an early August opening in nearby Changbai, on the border close to the popular tourist attraction of Mt. Changbai, will only accept limited "charter flights" during the Olympics because Baishan is seeking to minimize foreign tourists in this sensitive area, Ding explained. South of Baishan in Ji'an, tour operators noted July 25 that cross-border tourism there had been suspended for the past year and would remain so for the foreseeable future. By contrast, a tour operator in Dandong reached by phone later the same day claimed that he could arrange cross-border tours to Sinuiju (in North Korea) during the Olympics for Chinese, but not for foreigners. NK BORDER-CROSSERS, REPATRIATIONS AND OLYMPICS SECURITY -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) Officials in Baishan confirmed that security forces have enhanced border security in part to deter North Korean border-crossings. FAO Deputy Director LIU Fulin (PROTECT) told Poloff July 24 that both the PRC and DPRK sides of the border have recently taken measures to "strengthen control" (jiaqiang guanli) of the border. Director Wang Hongwei claimed that the PRC "through diplomatic channels" requested that the DPRK pay particular attention to stemming border-crossings during the Olympics. Wang claimed the North Korean side assured Chinese counterparts that it would mete out more severe penalties for those caught crossing the border during the Olympics. Liu Fulin noted that Baishan will continue to repatriate any North Korean nabbed during the Olympics. ¶8. (SBU) Local PRC media and government reports throughout June publicized an ongoing 100-day campaign in Jilin Province to combat cross-border drug trafficking, alien smuggling and "illegal activities" in a bid to create a "stable border" and "safe Olympics." (NOTE: This is nominally part of an annual anti-drug campaign which this year has been intensified as a result of the Olympics. END NOTE.) Official reports have hailed statistics of drugs seized and alien-smuggling "snakeheads" nabbed, and also pointed to more robust force deployments in the border region, new "secret (roadside) checkpoints" and increasing intelligence collection. A June 5 online report by the Yanbian Public Security Bureau described house-to-house searches in Wangqing, northeast of Yanji, in order to create a "safe Olympics" as early as May. During searches, local police discovered two North Korean border-crossers, subsequently repatriated to the DPRK, according to the report. SWICKMAN