There is widespread speculation that a senior North Korean official who made a surprise day-long visit to Beijing was Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Japanese media outlets first reported that a high-profile figure had arrived via a North Korean diplomatic train and was met with tight security. South Korea said it did not know the official’s … Read more
Trucks still line up bumper-to-bumper on the “Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge” to bring goods from North Korea into China even as Beijing faces massive pressure to strangle its Communist ally economically. Some two dozen trucks awaited clearance to enter the border city of Dandong, through which 70 percent of North Korea’s trade passes, a day after … Read more
The US Treasury Department on Thursday slapped sanctions on a Chinese bank over illicit activities in North Korea, including facilitating the production of weapons of mass destruction. Bank of Dandong which “acts as a conduit for illicit North Korean financial activity, is a foreign bank of primary money laundering concern,” and will be severed from … Read more
One soldier enjoys a cigarette, another sits reading quietly on the riverbank: seen from the Chinese side of the border, North Korea’s army does not appear to be on a war footing despite all the bellicose language. Dandong city is the main crossing point to North Korea, and every day hundreds of tourists embark on … Read more
Dozens of people holding Chairman Mao posters protested in China’s Jilin province on Sunday, calling for a boycott of South Korean goods as part of a backlash against the country’s Lotte Group. The retail giant has faced growing opposition in China since signing a deal to provide land for a US missile-defence system Tuesday. The … Read more