Chinese residents of North Korea who went to China during the COVID-19 pandemic are starting to return, but some are wondering if they should have stayed in China given all the restrictions on bringing things into the country, sources told Radio Free Asia.
North Korean authorities denied requests by returnees to import goods, even those that they planned to sell or use in their own homes, including clothing and household goods.
“They were going back without items that they wanted to resell,” a resident of Yanji in China’s northeastern province of Jilin told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Their request was denied.”
Called Hwagyo in Korean, which means "overseas Chinese," these people descended from Chinese who moved to the Korean peninsula in the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, prior to the split between North and South Korea. The Korea National Diplomatic Academy estimated that there were around 5,000 North Korean Hwagyo in 2017.
According to rough estimates from North Korean residents, during the coronavirus pandemic, more than 70% of the Hwagyo community decided to weather the storm in China as they were facing severe economic difficulties at home.
North Korea last week gave the green light for a third wave of Hwagyo returnees, after having approved returns in December and January.
But some may be reluctant to return as word gets back about the severe restrictions.
"Many Hwagyo who returned to North Korea are regretting their return," said another Yanji resident, who requested anonymity for personal safety. "They said that Hwagyo are even banned from doing business in the marketplace."
The first Yanji resident said he had heard that 33 Hwagyo entered North Korea through Wonjong customs recently, referring to the border crossing between Hunchun, China, and Rason in northeastern North Korea.
RFA sources confirmed that more Hwagyo came through the border crossing that connects Dandong, China with Sinuiju, North Korea in the peninsula's northwest, but RFA was not able to determine how many.
"The [North Korean] Consulate General in Shenyang asked returning Hwagyo not to reveal details such as the number of people returning and their departure date to the outside," the first resident said. "They were only allowed to carry one piece of luggage upon entry and the luggage was restricted from containing any South Korean products."
Easy Money
The luggage situation might be a big problem for the returnees.
Hwagyo in North Korea do not have North Korean citizenship and are officially citizens of the People's Republic of China, so prior to the pandemic, they had been able to travel back and forth between the two countries with relative ease.
This put them in a very privileged position from a business perspective because they could go to China, load up on products not available in North Korea, and sell them for a considerable markup when they got home.
According to the second Yanji resident, prior to the pandemic, North Korean wholesalers would mark the date that a Hwagyo was to return from China so that they could line up at the house to buy the latest products they brought back. Though most North Koreans struggle to make ends meet, money flowed into the hands of Hwagyo with relative ease.
But now that may all change.
As the news spreads, Hwagyo still in China are worried that they won't be able to go to China as often as before and they won't be able to sell Chinese products in North Korea, the second resident said, adding that many are planning to return to North Korea, settle their affairs, and then move to China permanently.
"If Chinese products cannot be imported and sold in North Korea in the future, there will be no reason for Hwagyo to continue living there," he said
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.