N Korea fishermen pay price as West tightens sanctions
On the Chinese side of the sprawling Yalu River, overlooking North Korea’s hilly, mysterious landscape, a trio of burly fishermen smoke heavily as they play cards on grimy boats which have stood motionless for weeks.
All seems quiet and tranquil, but the men are on the front line of global efforts to avert a nuclear crisis in north-east Asia – and they are paying for it with their livelihoods.
A ban on the export of seafood from North Korea was enforced with harsh sanctions agreed by the UN earlier this month after Pyongyang alarmed the world with a series of missile tests, and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi vowed that Beijing would “pay the price” in the wake of the resolution, as he sought to convince the world that China is determined to bring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to heel.
Questions over Beijing’s will to punish its historic ally have been raised by leaders in Asia and Donald Trump, the US president.
China has also been accused of not properly enforcing previous sanctions due to long-held distrust of US intentions in Asia and a fear of the instability that regime-change on its doorstep would bring.
But on the outskirts of the border city of Dandong, where fishermen repair nets in the hope of better days, China’s strict implementation of the measures is putting the fishing industry on its knees.
“China imposes sanctions against North Korea under pressure from America, but why must we suffer?” asks Li Yan, 55, who hasn’t been out in a boat for three weeks.
“The enforcement is so intense now, and if it continues we fishermen will become dead fish.”
An annual ban on fishing in Chinese waters is carried out by local authorities from May to September, to allow the fish to breed and grow.
During these months, boats leaving Chinese ports would normally venture into North Korean waters to source crabs and shrimp, which have become highly-prized in Asia, compared with produce from the polluted waters of more industrialised South Korea and Japan.
Chinese officials have previously turned a blind eye to trade restrictions with Pyongyang, but the fishermen say patrols have been ramped up, while fines are routinely handed out.
Seafood traders in Dandong have also suffered under the sanctions, with 90 per cent of merchants at the city’s Yellow Sea Seafood Products Wholesale Market being forced to close down, according to one trader, Yu Hechen.
“The market currently sells only frozen local goods, or seafood transported from southern China, which is inferior quality,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Only a handful of stores remained open in the sprawling complex when we visited, and there was no North Korean seafood being sold.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said banning seafood exports would cost North Korea $295 million (£228million) – a sizeable portion of the $1billion (£775million) in total the sanctions are expected to wipe from the impoverished state’s $3billion (£2.3billion) annual export income.
Donald Trump, who is concerned over North Korea’s apparent ability to reach the US mainland with an intercontinental missile, has engaged in a war of words with Pyongyang, vowing “fire and fury” amid heightened tensions earlier this month. However, Washington is primarily seeking to squeeze the impoverished state through sanctions, a policy which needs firm commitment from China, where 90 per cent of North Korean trade passes.
Nick Bisley, professor of International Relations at Latrobe University, Melbourne, said China has been making a “public display” of being tougher on Pyongyang and that the number of officials in Beijing who are seeking to punish North Korea may be increasing.
But he predicted restrictions on trade may slowly be softened by Beijing.
“My sense is that they are unlikely to completely enforce them and are likely to gently ease off over a few weeks,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
An hour’s drive inland from the Chinese fishermen, North Korean fishing crews were seen casting nets on the Yalu River on a section of water which is shared with China, but has North Korean territory on either side.
The heavily militarised area was dotted with watchtowers where soldiers looked out for defectors. Nearby, farmers were shovelling sand or collecting corn with primitive equipment.
One young man washed himself in the river and threatened us with stones as we approached.
The Chinese speedboat driver who took us on this unconventionally bizarre sightseeing tour said such a response was common for non-asian visitors.
“They don’t trust Westerners much here,” he said.
“But they are also starting to dislike Chinese too after our leaders fell out.” Additional reporting by Christine Wei
‘The enforcement is so intense now, and if it continues we fishermen will become dead fish’