SEOUL — China's Peoples Liberation Army has deployed 2,000 reinforcements to its border troops along the Tomen and Yalu rivers bordering North Korea following signs of instability, a major daily here reported.
Small-scale clashes between North Korean soldiers and Chinese border troops had been increasing in frequency. Last October, a Chinese soldier was killed in an exchange of fire, the Hong Kong Daily reported last week. With the buildup, the PLA now has 7,000 troops guarding its eastern border.
New Chinese military barracks and checkpoints have appeared along the border towns of Tumen, Hunchun and Sanhuh over the past few months, Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s leading conservative daily, reported. The paper said Beijing was concerned that growing numbers of North Korean defectors may pose a problem for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with the new developments being precautionary measures.
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Prison outpost in Tumen near the border of North Korea.
www.igfm.de
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“It has more to do with the food shortage in North Korea," said Young-Soo Kim, a professor at Sogang University in Seoul who specializes in North Korean affairs.
"China is expecting a big surge of North Koreans crossing the border in search of food, especially after the recent flood in the country.”
Kim said the additional Chinese troops were not combatants but patrols that control border traffic. The recent flood in North Korea was much worse than was known to the outside world.
“Thousands died and many houses were lost. In fact, North Korea’s rice crop this year will be much worse than last year and even in Pyongyang rice distribution has been suspended until September," Kim said. "Naturally, a great number of North Korean people in search of food are expected to cross the border. China is preparing for the surge.”
Jong-Oh Kim, a professor at the graduate school of Hanyang University in Seoul, also pointed out that the Western world is misinterpreting Chinese intentions about North Korea.
“China will not change its status quo policy on North Korea,” he said. “Should North Korea collapse, China will have to face American troops along its border with Korea. This means China will have to increase a huge military spending and revise its ‘100 years of unchanging goal’ of building its economy. For them, it will be much cheaper and more effective to aid North Korea so as not to let it collapse.”
