A North Korean consulate in China has been concerned in transporting handicrafts between the 2 international locations utilizing official autos as Pyongyang boosts exports of synthetic hair merchandise similar to wigs and false eyelashes.
A supply in China stated not too long ago that autos belonging to the North Korean consulate have been transporting items between Dandong in China’s Liaoning province and Sinuiju in North Korea’s North Pyongan province.
The autos in query are small vans that North Koreans name ppangtong. They carry uncooked supplies once they enter North Korea and completed items once they enter China.
The autos can not carry a lot cargo, however since false eyelashes, wigs, and the uncooked supplies wanted to make them take up little house, the small vans are ample for the duty.
North Korea has been utilizing consulate autos to move synthetic hair merchandise for greater than a month, starting in early August.
Chinese language buying and selling firms had been chargeable for transporting the hair merchandise forwards and backwards from North Korea. Not too long ago, nonetheless, with transportation prices skyrocketing and Chinese language customs tightening inspections of products going to North Korea, Pyongyang started utilizing consular autos to move gadgets, the supply stated.
It’s because North Korea might minimize transportation prices and face little resistance from Chinese language customs officers when taking gadgets into or out of China as consular autos should not intently inspected as a matter of diplomatic apply.
The Day by day NK couldn’t verify whether or not items transported in North Korean consular autos are included within the official commerce statistics of the Chinese language customs authorities. Nonetheless, the supply stated that consular autos “go by customs with out cargo inspections as a result of officers don’t conduct thorough quarantine checks on them,” and that “a lot of their cargo wouldn’t be included in official statistics.”
North Korean consular autos carry synthetic hair merchandise every day between Sinuiju and Dandong. However North Korea sends just one truck a day, slightly than a number of autos at a time.
“In the event you fill a small field measuring 30 centimeters by 30 centimeters with pretend eyelashes, you may make 3,000 Chinese language yuan in revenue,” the supply stated. “You don’t want huge autos to move pretend eyelashes or wigs.”
In different phrases, even small vans hooked up to the consulate are ample to move uncooked supplies for synthetic hair merchandise or completed items.
Nonetheless, nobody can say whether or not North Korea will proceed to make use of consular autos to move pretend eyelashes, wigs, and the like. Whereas using consular autos has the speedy benefit of decreasing transportation prices and facilitating customs clearance, it’s little greater than a short lived measure that can be tough to maintain.
“North Korean buying and selling firms desire to make use of consular autos as a result of they’ll decrease transportation prices, but when Chinese language customs take situation with it, they are going to don’t have any selection however to cease,” the supply stated.
The Day by day NK works with a community of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For safety causes, their identities stay nameless.
Please ship any feedback or questions on this text to dailynkenglish@uni-media.web.
Learn in Korean