China Boosts N. Korea Border Inspections

A Chinese man at the Customs yard in Dandong hose down trucks arriving from the North Korean town of Sinuiju, the opposite side of the Chinese border city in northeastern China, Monday, Oct. 16, 2006. The Chinese inspections at the border crossing with the North came amid concerns that Beijing would ignore new U.N. sanctions calling for nations to check cargo leaving and arriving from North Korea. China is a major trader with North Korea and its support is key to the success of the new U.N. measures. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) (Ng Han Guan - AP)

At a border-crossing post in the Chinese city of Dandong, about 30 Chinese trucks were seen being checked on Monday morning while 50 empty North Korean trucks waited in line to enter China to pick up cargo.

Customs officers opened the back of each truck and looked at its cargo as it rolled up, though they didn't open individual boxes or bags. By contrast, reporters who visited the border post last week didn't see inspectors open any trucks.

In the afternoon, the officers repeated the process as loaded North Korean trucks returned home. They climbed into the back of the vehicles, but observers couldn't see whether they opened any containers.

Trading companies in Dandong, at the western end of the border, and in Tumen, near the eastern end, said the sanctions were not affecting shipments.

"Today, we just sent a batch of agricultural tools to North Korea by truck," said Huang Kelin, manager of Wanshida Trading Co., a Dandong-based firm that has an office in Pyongyang.

At the Nanping crossing, in an eastern valley surrounded by mountains, inspectors were going through a standard regimen, looking at both cargo and passengers, a police officer said. "The inspections are routine and conducted by quarantine officials," said the officer, Li Canhao.

Chinese goods reach the North by road and rail, while oil is delivered mainly via pipeline. It wasn't immediately clear what China was doing to inspect rail shipments. A lone locomotive headed into North Korea on Monday afternoon, apparently to pull a cargo train back to China. The North also has a rail link to Russia in the east, though it wasn't clear how that was being policed.

China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said his country would implement the Security Council resolution and inspect cargo from North Korea for illegal weapons and missiles, but he indicated Chinese inspectors would not board ships. He noted that inspections are not mandatory under the resolution, intended to punish the North for its Oct. 9 nuclear test.

"This is a resolution we have to implement," Wang told reporters at the U.N. "The question was raised whether China will do inspections. Inspections yes, but inspection is different then interdiction and interception. I think different countries will do it different ways."

Wang's remarks represented a change from those he made Saturday after joining the council in voting to impose tough sanctions on North Korea for its Oct. 9 nuclear test. He initially objected to China's conducting inspections because of concerns that cargo checks would raise tensions with the North rather than persuade Pyongyang to return to six-party talks on its nuclear program.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, when asked about interdicting ships, said Monday that "one has to be very careful about it."

"When you go into inspection and things like that, cargo, one has to be very careful to avoid any kind of semblance of provocation," Churkin said.