The Associated Press

Published: October 16, 2006
HUSHAN, China China is building a massive fence along parts of its border with North Korea in the most visible sign of strains in Beijing's once-cozy ties with its communist neighbor.

Scores of soldiers have descended on farmland near the border-marking Yalu River to erect concrete barriers up to 4 meters (13 feet) tall and string barbed wire between them, farmers and visitors to the area said.

Last week, they reached Hushan, a group of villages 20 kilometers (12 miles) inland from the border port of Dandong.

"About 100 People's Liberation Army soldiers in camouflage started building the fence four days ago and finished it yesterday," said a farmer, who only gave the surname Ai.

Though the fence-building appears to have picked up in the days following North Korea's claimed nuclear test last week, experts said the project was approved in 2003.

A Defense Ministry spokesman, Ye Xing, declined comment, saying he was not authorized to release information on border security.

The fence marks a noticeable change in China's approach to North Korea.

In the decades following their shared fight against U.S.-led U.N. forces in the Korean War, China left the border lightly guarded, deploying most of its forces in the northeast toward its enemy, the Soviet Union.

But the border became a security concern for Beijing in the past decade, as North Korea's economy collapsed and social order crumbled in some places. Tens of thousands of refugees began trickling across the border into China.

Professor Kim Woo-jun at the Institute of East and West Studies in Seoul said China built wire fences on major defection routes along the Tumen River starting in 2003, and since September this year, China has been building wire fences along the Yalu River.

"The move is mainly aimed at North Korean defectors," Kim said. "As the U.N. sanctions are enforced ... the number of defectors are likely to increase, as the regime can't take care of its people ... I think the wire fence work will likely go on to control this."

But he said he also believes that Beijing wants to firmly mark its border with the North along the two rivers.

Kim said China and the North drew their border in a secret treaty, which wasn't reported to the U.N. and therefore does not apply to a third country, like South Korea. China may be concerned that South Korea could claim a different border after absorbing or unifying with the North.

____

Associated Press correspondents Alexa Olesen in Beijing and Jae-soon Chang in Seoul contributed to this report.

Americans should follow suit with mexico

high fences and some guns every 50 meters! and traps before the fences too!

They need a concrete wall with barbed wire and snipers just like in Israel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAcIGx-nxdI

True dat-------- i've read stories that there are underground tunnels from Mexico as well.

I wouldnt be surprised, but China better not steal NK land by building the fence ahead of their actual boundary line in disputed areas of the border.

i think north korea can protect its land and sovereignty fully well. they don't need south koreans to worry about their affairs.

good idea, dont let those NKs in anymore

The news has been proven false by Chinese foreign ministry. The barbed wire has been there since mid 90's. (Only in portion of China-NK border region.) Don't you see there are tons of propaganda and misinformation coming out of the west in the past few days? It's an information warfare. These western propaganda machine can't wait to see China and NK relationship cracks by circulating false news around. You think China is going to screw herself by dumping our brotherly nation, North Korea? You wish!!

your on crack

Steal NK infertile land?

It is the fact that Korean produce so-called Gendo problem to try to steal our Chinese land


Support wire fence along border, Yalu River is a definite border between China and Korea.

It is no wonder, sk is a such small one, as big as 90,000 sq.kilometers, they might have some freak ideas

a small land but hell of a lot better than other countries ahem ahem

韩国教科书：山东属于韩国 孔子是韩国人

根据韩国的消息，韩国人已经在准备拿祭孔大典去申请世界文化遗产，下一步就是把孔子彻彻底底的变成韩国人了，中国的论坛上却还在为应不应该祭孔吵个不停，很多人对孔子极尽讽刺挖苦之能事。

9月28日，是孔子诞辰2557周年，大陆与台湾同时举行了祭孔大典。而在此前的9月26日，一组韩国祭孔大典的图片也成为各大门户网站的头条。抢在中国之前大规模宣传自己的祭孔活动，韩国人的用意又何在呢？

韩国人总是想把中华文化中的优秀成分据为己有，这已经不是第一天了。就在2005年，韩国已经将传承自中国的端午节申报世界文化遗产成功，成为所有中国人心头的痛。祭孔大典就是他们的下一个目标。

只要你仔细研究一下韩国人祭孔的资料，就会发现他们一直在强调正宗。看过韩国人的祭孔视频，再来对照中国的祭孔视频，大部分人都会得出韩国人的典礼好像更正统，更高尚的感觉。韩国人的祭孔好像总和中国的对着干，你们穿满清的长袍马褂，我就穿正统的汉服；你们的仪式变来变去没有定式，我们却遵循的是古礼一成不变；你们在文革中将孔子批倒批臭，我们却尊孔几百年不变；你们的祭孔大典往往是政府主导活动，我们的祭孔却是二百多所乡校同时进行的全国性活动！

韩国人的目的很明确，就是要让人觉得只有他们才是祭孔的正统，只有他们才最有资格祭祀孔子。然后就可以拿他们几百年历史的祭孔大典去申请世界文化遗产！

相比之下前两年中国的祭孔确实让人有点寒心，猪屁股对着孔子的笑话，长袍马褂太监装的闹剧等等，层出不穷。今天的祭孔幸好有五粮液这样实力雄厚有儒商思想的企业相助，才不致于出现以前祭孔由于没钱而租京剧戏装的窘境，用五粮液祭酒也确实符合中国五谷祭祀的正统，“杯底五谷杯上液”的礼制。然而韩国在国际上对祭孔的推广已经走在了前面，而且在过去的年代中国对孔子文化的毁坏也确实令人寒心，这使我们在韩国人面前总显得低人一头。

韩国人觊觎孔子不是一天两天了，在一本韩国历史教科书的插图上，中国的东北，山东都成为历史上韩国的地盘！山东都是韩国的人，山东人孔子也就理所当然是山东人。在这本韩国教科书里，“镇压了处于农耕文化的汉人”，“惩罚大唐的战争”等语句随处可见，我们总是将注意力集中日本人的修改教科书事件上，却没注意到韩国人干起这种事来也是很在行。

韩国人论证孔子是韩国人还有这样的论据：朝鲜半岛最早建立政权的是商朝贵族箕子。箕子是商朝纣王的亲戚，西周武王伐纣。箕子不愿意接受西周统治。于是率领5000名商朝人逃跑到朝鲜半岛和辽东半岛，建立了政治难民国家—箕子朝鲜。而商朝大部分人都留在了中国，分布在西周封建的宋卫等多个国家。宋国的第一个国君就是箕子的亲戚—微子。孔子是宋国贵族后代，当然也就是韩国祖宗箕子的后代了。

在中国人看来，这种八竿子才打的着的关系，无疑可笑又可耻，但对于看这种历史教科书长大的韩国人来说，无疑是天经地义。所以将祭孔大典申请世界文化遗产才会得到这么多韩国人的支持，韩国人才会理直气壮的发出“孔子是我们的”的豪论了。

篡改历史是第一步，将祭孔大典申遗是第二步，接下来就是给国际社会造成孔子真的是韩国人的印象，最终目的是达到韩国才是亚洲文化的渊源所在，韩国文明哺育了包括中国在内的东亚文明！

然而这时我们中国人在干什么？在网上就该不该祭孔吵的不亦乐乎，而总有那一部分中国人，热衷于用各种不堪的语言来讽刺挖苦孔子和儒家文化。从文革打倒孔家店到现在，我们又有什么资格说，比起韩国，我们的儒家文化更为正统更为全民？

不肖子孙要将祖宗拱手送给外国人了，孔子的灵魂在天上痛哭失声。

same thing koguryo ancestor cry too when did we be chinese?

Lets just hope the Chinese government treats NK refugees better than they do Tibetans.

China more progressive than South Korea? China has decided to stop funding North Korea's nuclear program and cut off cash flows.

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China takes tough stance on North Korea
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

BEIJING - An exasperated China took a newly tough approach to communist ally North Korea on Friday, siding with the United States in saying the North must back away from nuclear confrontation, and moving to cut Pyongyang's vital supply of hard currency.

Chinese banks have stopped financial transfers to North Korea under government orders, bank employees said Friday. And at an appearance with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, China's foreign minister nudged the North to resume negotiations over its nuclear program and assured Washington that China would carry out United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang.

"We hope all relevant parties will maintain coolheadedness, adopt a prudent and a responsible approach and adhere to peaceful dialogue," Li Zhaoxing said as Rice concluded crisis talks in Asia following the North's Oct. 9 nuclear test blast.

China, which is North Korea's longtime protector, has been reluctant in the past to use economic pressure for fear Kim Jung Il's government might collapse.

But Chinese leaders were stung when the North ignored their warnings not to test-fire missiles over the summer, and again when it defied Beijing by detonating the underground blast this month. China previously had reduced food aid to North Korea amid complaints that Pyongyang had ignored Chinese interests.

The move by China's banks could deal a significant blow to the already impoverished North. China is North Korea's top trading partner — accounting for more than half its total foreign trade of less than $4 billion last year — and is a key conduit for its hard currency.

China's actions are considered key to enforcing U.N. sanctions on the North over the test, and to coaxing the North to back away from the nuclear brink and rejoin talks.

Rice told reporters China has new resolve against the North that shows it has re-evaluated its relationship with Pyongyang. Last week's U.N. Security Council vote to impose sanctions on Pyongyang, which Beijing supported, proves the point, Rice said.

"In this entire 30-year history of the North Korean nuclear program, this is the first time that the international system has been able to actually impose a cost on North Korea for its nuclear behavior," Rice said. "It's able to impose that cost because China has been brought into the process in a way that China never was before."

The U.S.-backed sanctions were watered down partly at China's request, but China's vote in favor of punishment still represents a shift for Beijing.

All four major Chinese state-owned banks and British-owned HSBC Corp. have stopped financial transfers to the North, according to bank employees in Beijing and the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.

China has also been inspecting North Korean trucks at some points along the two nations' 880-mile border, and it dispatched a top envoy to Pyongyang this week to warn the North against a second nuclear test and try to bring it back to the arms talks.

Discussions over Pyongyang's nuclear program have been stalled for a year because of a boycott by the North over U.S. financial sanctions. The talks involve the United States, host China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia.

Beijing was the final and most important stop on Rice's hastily arranged tour of Asian capitals. She continues to Moscow on Saturday for talks on the dual nuclear challenges posed by North Korea and
Iran.

In Beijing, Rice appealed to North Korea to return without condition to stalled international talks over its nuclear program. She downplayed differences among the U.S., China and South Korea over the strength and tone of world response to Pyongyang.

The U.N. sanctions ban trade with the North in major weapons and materials that could be used by its ballistic missile and unconventional weapons programs, and in luxury goods enjoyed almost exclusively by elites around Kim.

The U.N. restrictions call for inspections of all cargo leaving and arriving in North Korea, but it is not clear how that will work in practice. Rice has stepped gingerly around that point this week, saying all nations are obligated to enforce the sanctions but leaving the details vague.

Several Defense Department officials said Friday that the U.S. Navy is tracking a North Korean cargo ship that left port and was headed south from the Korean Peninsula. One of the officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said the U.S. does not know what the ship is carrying or its destination.

South Korean news reported Friday that Kim said Pyongyang doesn't plan to carry out any more nuclear tests and expressed regret about the country's first-ever atomic detonation last week. Kim told a visiting Chinese envoy, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, that the North had "no plans for additional nuclear tests," Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed diplomatic source in Beijing.

Rice met with Tang in Beijing on Friday and later told reporters that he had carried a "strong message to North Korea about the seriousness of what has happened."

Rice would not provide details of Kim's response, but White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters in Washington that the North had not offered to return to six-nation arms talks stalled since late last year.

America should dig traps entitled "Hidden Pits of Hell" Literally mechanised traps that drop people into fault lines deep below the surface.

I heard North Koreans often break border rules....might as well keep them out.