North Korean authorities boast of the country’s rising international standing. But in 2026, a very different story is spreading among North Korean people in border areas. Private visit travelers returning from China say North Koreans in China are treated as poor. South Koreans, they say, are treated as wealthy.
A source in North Hamgyong province spoke to Daily NK on Wednesday. The source said these accounts have recently spread by word of mouth among Hoeryong residents. Many people feel bitter about the stories, the source said. Chinese people treat South Koreans as wealthy, the accounts claim, but treat North Koreans as poor.
The accounts trace back to private visit travelers who went to China before the COVID-19 pandemic. They could not return home once the border closed. Only recently did they make it back to North Korea, after an extended stay abroad.
Under North Korea’s private visit system, people with relatives in China can obtain a private travel permit from authorities. The permit allows them to visit the country. Ordinary people without connections in China cannot obtain such permits. Private visit travelers have long been envied by their neighbors as a result.
The North Korea-China border was closed for an extended period during the pandemic. That forced people who had traveled to China under private visit permits before the closure to stay far longer than planned. Some people said at the time that they envied those with relatives in China who had the chance to travel.
Bias against North Koreans in China spreads
As these travelers have recently returned home, stories describing how North Koreans are viewed abroad have spread. The accounts have drawn significant attention from North Korean people, the source said.
Accounts drawn from the travelers’ experiences are now circulating in Hoeryong. According to these stories, relatives in China assume visitors from North Korea have come to ask for money or borrow money.
The travelers also described how they were treated as customers. “When people find out someone is from North Korea, they treat them like they’ve come to beg or borrow money from relatives,” the source said. “If a South Korean customer walks into a store, employees jump up and greet them with smiles. But if it’s obvious someone is North Korean, they don’t even stand up. They act as if to say, ‘Why are you asking if you can’t even afford it?’”
People who heard the accounts reacted with frustration, according to the source. Some said, “We’re the same people, but South Korea gets treated like the rich ones and our country gets treated like beggars.” Others said, “Only a wealthy country gets respect abroad. If a country is poor, it gets no respect no matter how strong it claims to be.”
Some people have connected the accounts to inequality inside North Korea itself, the source said. They noted that people are already treated differently depending on how expensive their clothing looks. Officials, including judicial officials, size people up by their appearance, they said. “It’s probably the same logic in China,” the source said people have concluded.
Similar accounts are reportedly spreading in other regions. A source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK that the pattern is repeating there too. Several private visit travelers left for China before the pandemic and returned to Hyesan this year. They have been sharing their experiences with close acquaintances, and stories about the different treatment are spreading quickly, the source said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pushed a “two hostile states” policy in recent years, which recasts inter-Korean relations as a relationship between hostile, separate countries rather than a divided nation seeking reunification, and has made even mentioning South Korea a highly sensitive topic. Still, people close to one another cautiously discuss these accounts among themselves, according to the Ryanggang province source.
“Similar stories have circulated through private visit travelers before, but people seem to be paying closer attention to them recently,” the source said. “The state propagates that our country’s standing and power have grown to the point that even the United States fears us. But those who have actually experienced life abroad say North Koreans are treated as the least valuable people there.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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July 17, 2026 at 02:24AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)