The year 2026 has brought a noticeable shift in how Chinese customs officials treat travelers crossing the border from North Korea, with sources reporting a marked easing in inspections of personal luggage. As a result, small quantities of North Korean dried seafood, produce and processed foods are once again flowing into China, reviving informal trade that had largely dried up in recent years.
According to a source inside North Korea who spoke to Daily NK on Tuesday, the volume of people traveling between North Korea and China has grown noticeably this month. Increasing numbers of those crossing for business or other purposes are packing dried seafood, agricultural products and food items sold in North Korean markets into their personal luggage and carrying them into China.
Chinese customs has long enforced strict controls on North Korean goods, citing United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea. Even travelers crossing for business or to visit relatives reportedly had their bags thoroughly searched, making it difficult to bring even small amounts of North Korean dried seafood or produce across the border.
That climate appears to be changing. Sources say more people are now successfully carrying small quantities of North Korean goods into China in their personal bags. While Chinese customs continues to crack down firmly on large-scale shipments, officials are said to be taking a comparatively flexible approach toward small amounts carried by individual travelers.
“In the past, [Chinese customs] used to search personal luggage thoroughly and enforce the rules strictly, but that’s not the case now,” the source said. “Based on what I’ve seen, it’s not simply a case of officials looking the other way. It feels like enforcement on the ground itself has eased compared to before.”
Demand grows in Yanji’s border markets
As a result, individual merchants selling North Korean dried seafood, produce and food products in the Yanji area of China’s Jilin province, a city near the North Korean border with a large ethnic Korean population, are reportedly doing brisk business. Although supplies remain limited, the source said some items are selling well enough that vendors are taking pre-orders.
Currently popular items include North Korean dried seafood such as dried squid, beka squid, shrimp, crab meat, clam meat and conch. Demand also continues for North Korean wild greens, medicinal herbs and other agricultural goods, along with food products made at processing plants in North Korea. Items from well-known North Korean food factories, including the Songdowon Comprehensive Foodstuff Factory and the Pyongyang Children’s Foodstuff Factory, two of the country’s larger state-run food processing plants, are said to be especially sought after.
“Before COVID-19, it was common to see North Korean specialty goods being personally bought and sold in the border region, but that practice nearly disappeared afterward,” the source said. “Recently, though, more North Korean specialty products have been coming through customs, and the customer base has been growing.”
The source said demand for North Korean goods has traditionally remained steady among ethnic Koreans in China and North Korean defectors living there, and that this base has recently expanded to include consumers simply curious about North Korean products, further energizing the trade.
“It’s not as though large-volume trade has come back the way it used to be,” the source said. “But it is true that small-scale trade brought in through legal customs procedures by people crossing between the two countries has been increasing. There’s a clear shift being felt on the ground in the border region.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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June 30, 2026 at 11:49PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)