TRUSTED NOT TO WANDER
Situated on the Yalu River border with China, most of the inhabitants of North Korea’s city of Sinuiju are privileged to, but mostly trusted not to, wander into China. North Korean businesspeople, traders, workers, and agents continuously cross the Yalu into Dandong, a colorful and increasingly cosmopolitan Chinese city. They are trusted to return to North Korea at the end of their business.Living on the Yalu River border with China, most of the inhabitants of North Korea’s city of Sinuiju are privileged to; but mostly trusted not to, wander into China. North Korean businesspeople, traders, workers, and agents routinely cross the river to the colorful and increasingly cosmopolitan Chinese city of Dandong. They are trusted to return to North Korea at the completion of their duties.
The world often thinks of North Korea as locked behind an impenetrable barrier such as the Berlin Wall. It’s true that North Korean’s don’t enjoy the freedom to travel freely, but unlike the North Korean border with South Korea along the DMZ, the Chinese border is mostly not land-mined, or booby trapped.
The Yalu River border is secured, but usually, the Chinese border barriers on their banks of the river are taller and more imposing than the fences on the Korean side.
North Korea’s Wihwa Island provides its residents with picturesque waterfront views across the Yalu into China from their homes. But actually, this riverside neighborhood is an undeveloped and broken-down backwash of Sinuiju.
Living Behind Barbed Wire
The residents of the island live behind a barbed wire fence overlooked by watchtowers and patrolled by border guards. However each day, men, women, and children are all allowed to pass through gates in the fence to wash, fish and paddle in the river.
The village on the island is stagnating. In part because of its unfortunate association with a now-collapsed business development dream that was associated with Kim Jong Un’s executed uncle, Jang Song Thaek.
Just like the businessmen, traders, workers, and agents that routinely cross the Yalu into Dandong on approved regime business, the unaffected, unsophisticated residents of Wihwa Island are trusted not to swim across the river and wander off unauthorized into China.
Directly across the river from the Chinese border city of Dandong, you can watch the daily routines of the residents of Sinuiju; highlighting the vast gap in the standard of living between the two cities.
A gate in the barbed wire border security fence is open, and women scrub clothes on rocks while their children scamper over stones and paddle in the shallow water. Some children collect river water in plastic containers while others carry home large sacks of clothing washed in the river. In front of a cornfield, at the barbed wire border fence, there is a camouflaged lookout tower from where North Korean soldiers can scrutinize the river activity.
Dilapidated electrical power poles are leaning at angles. Some wires hang loosely, and some cross arms no longer support cables. Only meters from the riverbank are multi-storied houses with damaged roofs. The missing terracotta roof tiles give the impression that perhaps these buildings are abandoned, though they seem to be occupied homes as faint flickering lights can be seen through their windows after sunset.
Swimming Unlikely Waters
The members of China's Yalu River Swimming Club are typically middle-aged men who take their swimming seriously.
Year round they jump into the river from Dandong to swim laps. In December the temperature drops below zero degrees Celsius, in June its hot; often over forty degrees.
They swim in unlikely waters, the river border between China and North Korea. The stronger swimmers cross the entire width of the river and rest in the shallows of the North Korean bank at Sinuiju before swimming back.
People from both countries swim the shared river, but they never scale the banks of the foreign shore. North Korean swimmers usually paddle close to their riverbank; it’s only the Chinese swimmers that cross the entire river width, technically swimming in foreign waters.
Each day, year-round, Chinese swimmers from the border city of Dandong cross the entire width of the Yalu River and rest in the shallows of the North Korean bank in Sinuiju before swimming back to China.
A barbed wire fence secures the North Korean river bank, and North Korean soldiers can observe the swimmers from their watchtowers. The towers are positioned every few hundred meters along this section of the border.
Many of the Chinese swimmers have been swimming in this part of the Yalu for over twenty years. For all this time they have never climbed the banks of the foreign shore.
The club has never known any member to run into trouble with the North Korean border guards. The swimmers never leaving the water seem to satisfy the guards that they are no threat. They are left alone and ignored by the Koreans.
Wihwa is a low river island directly opposite the Xingdong Residential District of Dandong. Wihwa is fortunate to be alluvial with good soil quality that allows it’s residents to farm corn and soybean.
The river is an essential source of food for the North Koreans. With more than 88 species of fish living in the Yalu, the catch in this section of the river appears to be plentiful. Small fishing boats, not much larger than canoes are used by the Wihwa locals to fish with nets while border guards in their towers keep watch.
Worlds Apart
With modern China being only a few hundred meters away, the vast gap in the living standards of the North Koreans when compared to the Chinese across the river, is impossible to overlook.
Modern residential high-rises dominate the Chinese riverbank together with parks, a boardwalk, countless restaurants, and cafes; whereas the North Korean village on Wihwa Island remains dilapidated. The homes are water damaged, roofs broken or collapsed, and many windows and doors no longer have glass.
At night the Dandong's Xingdong district is a blinding beacon of light; whereas the homes on Wihwa are in darkness.
North Koreans and Chinese locals both share the river. The river water itself is considered to be neutral territory.
Merely sitting on the riverbank, a constant parade of activity from both countries plays out before you. Thin North Korean fisherman can be seen attending to their nets while the better fed Chinese recreational swimmers and wind-surfers pass directly by them.
Watching the comings and goings of watercraft on the Yalu allows you to realize that the river not only acts as the political frontier between North Korea and China, but it also serves as the cultural boundary between these two countries. The Food, dress, music, and language on the eastern bank of the river are entirely Korean, whereas Dandong offers an international, cosmopolitan lifestyle.
Watchtowers & Guardposts
The homes on North Korea’s border at Wihwa Island are in disrepair. They have collapsed and leaky roofs, and windows lacking glass; in contrast, the border guard posts and watchtowers seem to be well maintained.
Small concrete guard bunkers dot the North Korean riverbank every few hundred meters. These bunkers are hidden or camouflaged and protect gates in the barbed wire border fence.
At key locations such as a river bend, or on a hill, high watchtowers provide overall surveillance of the border. These lookouts, spaced about a kilometer apart are usually very visible and perhaps serve as central control points for the surrounding series of smaller bunkers.
Unlike the nearby Korean homes, each watchtower appears to be served by continuous electric power. Watchtowers and bunkers are both equipped with tall whip radio antennas for communication.
The watchtowers and guard posts don’t appear to restrict North Koreans from using the river for their daily washing, swimming or fishing. Even so, both Chinese locals and North Korean defectors say the North Korean secret services - the Bowibu - keep a sharp watch on people’s comings and goings from the towers.
Wihwado Retreat
The crumbling North Korean village on Wihwa Island conceals the historical importance of what is today just a backwash of Sinuiju. In 1388, Wihwa Island was the setting of a momentous decision that would alter the course of Korean history.
It was here, on the riverbank opposite modern-day Dandong, that General Yi Seong-gye (who became Taejo of Joseon) took his first step to found the Joseon dynasty of Korea, overthrowing the Koryo dynasty which had ruled for 474 years.
Yi Seong-gye at the time was a trusted general in the Koryo dynasty and had been sent north to cross the Yalu River. From there, his instructions were to move into northeast China to battle with the new Chinese Ming dynasty in support of the Mongols.
Defying his orders, Yi Seong-gye decided instead to turn back his army from Wihwa Island and march southward to Kaesong. This decision was the first of a series of revolts against his Koryo masters that eventually led to his establishment of the Joseon dynasty that then ruled Korea for the next five centuries.
Yi Seong-gye's decision made at Wihwa Island is known as the “Wihwado Retreat” and today is a favorite storyline in both Korean and Chinese television dramas, strategy board games and computer video games.
