North Korean trucks loaded with seafood get stuck on the Chinese border. (Photo: Global Times)
North Korean seafood trucks get stuck on the border
CHINA
Saturday, August 19, 2017, 00:50 (GMT + 9)
The government of a city in Northeast China is currently negotiating with North Korean authorities over the seafood trucks that are stuck between the two countries' customs ports of the countries.
The stoppage was produced after the Chinese government decided to comply with the United Nations' fresh sanctions on certain exports from North Korea.
"The seafood that can't enter China is ready to be gradually shipped back to North Korea," an official from the entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau in Hunchun told The Global Times.
The trucks had passed through the Yuanting port on August 15, but by then, the Quanhe port had stopped providing customs clearance services for seafood trucks from North Korea and were stuck on the bridge between China's Quanhe customs port and North Korea's Wonjong customs port.
On August 14, China's Ministry of Commerce announced the decision to forbid imports of coal, iron ore, lead and seafood from North Korea starting from August 16.
China's decision is enforcement of the new sanctions on August 5 passed by the United Nations Security Council, which not only banned North Korean exports of a number of products, but also prohibited North Korean labourers from working abroad as well as disallowing countries from setting up new joint ventures with North Korea. The sanctions act as punishments for North Korea's two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.
According to Reuters, the new sanctions will "slash by a third" North Korea's annual export revenue.
Meanwhile, a Chinese source told Radio Free Asia that despite the ban, North Korea continues selling seafood to China, trading them in the high seas.
This same source stated that "maritime markets" crop up at night on the West Sea, where Chinese trawlers buy fish and other seafood from North Korean vessels. The Chinese fishermen then sell the products in China labelled as domestic catch.
"When you stand on the deck of the ferry at night, you can see many fishing boats that flicker their lights. Those are signals exchanged by North Korean and Chinese vessels to engage in illicit trade on the open seas," the source added.
In addition, it is apparently an open secret among Chinese fishermen that it is cheaper to pay US dollars for North Korean fish and other seafood than it is to hire Chinese crew.
According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, China officially imported USD 192.5 million worth of North Korean fish and seafood products last year, up 75.9 per cent compared to 2015 and making up 7.8 per cent of bilateral trade, up from 4.4 per cent in 2015.
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