A North Korean consulate in China has been involved in transporting handicrafts between the two countries using official vehicles as Pyongyang boosts exports of artificial hair products such as wigs and false eyelashes.
A source in China said recently that vehicles belonging to the North Korean consulate have been transporting goods between Dandong in China’s Liaoning province and Sinuiju in North Korea’s North Pyongan province.
The vehicles in question are small trucks that North Koreans call ppangtong. They carry raw materials when they enter North Korea and finished goods when they enter China.
The vehicles cannot carry much cargo, but since false eyelashes, wigs, and the raw materials needed to make them take up little space, the small trucks are sufficient for the task.
North Korea has been using consulate vehicles to transport artificial hair products for more than a month, beginning in early August.
Chinese trading companies had been responsible for transporting the hair products back and forth from North Korea. Recently, however, with transportation costs skyrocketing and Chinese customs tightening inspections of goods going to North Korea, Pyongyang began using consular vehicles to transport items, the source said.
This is because North Korea could cut transportation costs and face little resistance from Chinese customs officials when taking items into or out of China as consular vehicles are not closely inspected as a matter of diplomatic practice.
The Daily NK could not confirm whether goods transported in North Korean consular vehicles are included in the official trade statistics of the Chinese customs authorities. However, the source said that consular vehicles “pass through customs without cargo inspections because officials don’t conduct thorough quarantine checks on them,” and that “much of their cargo would not be included in official statistics.”
North Korean consular vehicles carry artificial hair products daily between Sinuiju and Dandong. But North Korea sends only one truck a day, rather than several vehicles at a time.
“If you fill a small box measuring 30 centimeters by 30 centimeters with fake eyelashes, you can make 3,000 Chinese yuan in profit,” the source said. “You don’t need big vehicles to transport fake eyelashes or wigs.”
In other words, even small trucks attached to the consulate are sufficient to transport raw materials for artificial hair products or finished goods.
However, no one can say whether North Korea will continue to use consular vehicles to transport fake eyelashes, wigs, and the like. While the use of consular vehicles has the immediate advantage of reducing transportation costs and facilitating customs clearance, it is little more than a temporary measure that will be difficult to sustain.
“North Korean trading companies prefer to use consular vehicles because they can lower transportation costs, but if Chinese customs take issue with it, they will have no choice but to stop,” the source said.
The Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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October 01, 2024 at 06:30AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)