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The Jian-Manpo bridge straddling the North Korea-Chinese border officially opened on Apr. 8

China is setting up a checkpoint equipped with fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications technology at its border with North Korea to crack down on defections and smuggling, China’s Legal Daily and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported on Apr. 9.

According to Legal Daily, the local border patrol team for the city of Tonghua in China’s Jilin Province signed an agreement with China Mobile, the country’s biggest telecommunication company, on Mar. 23 to build China’s first 5G checkpoint at Yunfeng near Unbong Lake in North Korea’s Chagang Province. The checkpoint is to be built in Ji’an, a border city (under Tonghua jurisdiction) located on the Yalu (Amnok) River. Although the region is a major base for North Korean defectors traveling into China and a frequent location for smuggling, authorities have had difficulty cracking down in the past due to the rugged topography and broad extent of area to be monitored.

Once the 5G checkpoint is in place, policing is expected to intensify substantially as patrol team members use virtual reality glasses for real-time monitoring and link up with patrol drones and nighttime surveillance monitors over the 5G network. If the pilot checkpoint is deemed efficient, the effort may eventually be expanded to cover the entire North Korea-China border.

Chinese authorities’ decision to set up the checkpoint appeared motivated by fears of a worsening food shortage in North Korea and increase in defections following the second North Korea-US summit in Hanoi last February, which ended without producing an agreement, the South China Morning Post said.

Meanwhile, the border bridge between Jian and the North Korean city of Manpo, which was completed in 2016, officially opened on Apr. 8 after continued delays. Coming after postponements due to concerns about UN Security Council sanctions, the bridge’s opening is seen as an effort by China to increase economic cooperation and exchange with North Korea in tourism and other areas unrelated to sanctions.

“China is abiding by the UN Security Council sanctions, but it is also looking for ways of increasing cooperation with North Korea in areas that would not be in violation of the sanctions, such as visits by Chinese tourists and education for North Korean workers,” a Chinese foreign affairs expert explained.

By Park Min-hee, senior staff writer

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]