North Border Closed to Tourists
North Border Closed to Tourists
DANDONG, KOMPAS.com - the largest border crossing between North Korea and China have been closed for vacationers, a Chinese official said on Wednesday (10/4), as nuclear tensions rise. But traveling for business is still allowed.
An official in Dandong Border Office, who did not give his name, told AFP, "Travel agents are not allowed to bring vacationers to it (North Korea ), because the North Korean government is now asking foreigners to leave the country. As far as I know, business people can enter and leave North Korea with free, "he added.
China is the sole major ally North Korea and most providers of goods trade and aid. Most of the business through Dandong.
A woman surnamed Wu in a travel agency in the city, said the city government said on Tuesday that because of the tension in Pyongyang, Dandong travel companies can not travel to Korea North began Wednesday. "It's really (decision) North Korea because the travel agency told us 'North Korea is now no longer allow the tour go'," she said.
An AFP photographer at the border Wednesday saw a number of cars and larger vehicles past the Yalu River bridge that marks the border, in both directions.
Yesterday, Pyongyang advised foreigners to leave South Korea since the Korean peninsula was toward war "nuclear". Last week the North Korean government warns embassies in Pyongyang to consider evacuation step because it could not guarantee the safety of diplomats 'if conflict occurs'. But the statement is widely regarded as merely empty rhetoric. Most of the embassy there confirmed they have no plans to withdraw its personnel.
Korean peninsula had been in a cycle of rising military tensions since a third nuclear test North Korea in February, triggering harsh UN sanctions. Pyongyang war rhetoric has peaked in recent weeks. North Korea almost every day throwing the threat of attacks against U.S. military bases and South Korea. The threat was a response to the joint military exercise South Korea-US ongoing.
