Tensions threaten trade and tourism on China-North Korea border
Reuters
2013-04-11
Views 96
Dandong, a bustling Chinese town, is the main export point for Chinese products heading into North Korea.
Trucks continued to cross the bridge into the reclusive state on Thursday.
But locals say border trade has been hit hard by tensions over the North's threats of war and a new round of international sanctions on Pyongyang earlier this year.
Drivers said there has been a surge in orders of food and daily items ahead of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung on April 15.
But regardless, one truck driver says he's lucky if he can make one trip a day now.
(SOUNDBITE)(Mandarin) TRUCK DRIVER MR YU SAYING:
"Our work has dropped 70 or 80 percent compared with this time last year, and our incomes and quality of life have gone down with it. It's all because the situation is so tense."
Some tour agencies halted overland tourism into North Korea on Wednesday.
Chinese visitors who came to Dandong hoping for a glimps
Trucks continued to cross the bridge into the reclusive state on Thursday.
But locals say border trade has been hit hard by tensions over the North's threats of war and a new round of international sanctions on Pyongyang earlier this year.
Drivers said there has been a surge in orders of food and daily items ahead of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung on April 15.
But regardless, one truck driver says he's lucky if he can make one trip a day now.
(SOUNDBITE)(Mandarin) TRUCK DRIVER MR YU SAYING:
"Our work has dropped 70 or 80 percent compared with this time last year, and our incomes and quality of life have gone down with it. It's all because the situation is so tense."
Some tour agencies halted overland tourism into North Korea on Wednesday.
Chinese visitors who came to Dandong hoping for a glimps
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