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China slaps sanctions on N. Korea on top of UNSC resolutions

China slaps sanctions on N. Korea on top of UNSC resolutions

Posted November. 29, 2017 08:50,   

Updated November. 29, 2017 09:13

한국어

The Chinese government has limitedly banned its people from traveling to North Korea following a U.S. ban on its citizens travelling to the reclusive country, putting a strain on North Korea’s finances. North Korea reportedly has been earning 44 million U.S. dollars annually from tourism, with China taking up 80 percent of the total. According to the statistics released by the China National Tourism Administration in 2012, 237,000 Chinese travelled to North Korea.

Some point out that the effect of the travel ban remains to be seen as some regions, where most of the Chinese travelers to North Korea come from, including Dandong, Shenyang, Liaoning Province and Jilin Province are exempt from the ban. Other regions are seeing a reduction in demands, resulting in travelling agencies not offering travelling packages to North Korea.

“We do not have travelling packages to North Korea and have not received any notices banning travel to the North,” said a large travelling agency in Beijing.

“We have a five-day package departing from Dandong to North Korea on December 7 and a shuttle flight from Dandong to North Korea in the middle of December,” said another agency. “But we are not sure if making reservations would be possible.”

An agency in Shandong region said they have not offered travelling packages to North Korea for some time. An agency operating in Shenyang said that it has a four-day package to North Korea starting on December 16 but a day’s trip to Sinuiju can leave anytime, while the agency we spoke to in Jilin Province said that it does not have travelling packages to North Korea during winter times.



Wan-Jun Yun zeitung@donga.com