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Things are getting tougher along the DPRK-China border. It is not simply the result of North Korean policy, although that has gotten worse as well; we now have yet yet another round of reports of inspection teams being dispatched to the border. Rather policy is shifting in China as well and in potentially disastrous ways that need sharper outside attention.
Back in February, I reported on the tightening on the Chinese side of the border as a result of the horrendous incident in December in which a North Korean soldier stationed in Chongjin deserted, crossed over to the village of Nanping near Helong City in Yanbian and ended up killing four Chinese citizens and injuring another, apparently in robbery attempts. Yet the last two months have brought several new incidents and a crucial case that shows that Chinese patience has snapped. China’s Global Times ran a feature in mid-May on an incident in April, also in a mountain village in the Helong area, in which three people were killed. An interesting feature of the Global Times piece is its thinly-veiled exasperation that no official statement was made and that the information had to be gleaned from the South Korean press (Global Times has made this complaint before (in Chinese); South China Morning Post coverage of the April case here).
Now we have yet another case on June 11, covered well by Austin Ramzy at The New York Times Sinosphere blog. But this time, it was a North Korean who was killed by a Chinese military patrol when he refused to stop (the person accompanying him got away). Several things are striking about this story. First, the identity of the people crossing were not initially revealed, but the press noted that prior mischief had been done by military border-crossers. But DailyNK now claims that the two individuals were civilians. Of course civilians can commit crimes in China as well. But is China now giving shoot to kill orders vis-à-vis potential defectors and refugees who resist arrest or simply try to run away? The answer appears to be “yes”; moreover, according to the DailyNK story China has informed North Korea of its intent. China has also shown its displeasure by going public on Pyongyang; the last incident was released by local authorities via Weibo.
This is not good. China has every right to secure its borders. But these rules of military and police engagement could result in the deaths of completely innocent refugees.
