formally protested on Tuesday that three of its citizens were killed
and a fourth wounded by North Korean border guards who opened fire
The Chinese were from the border city of Dandong, site of the
support for the North during the Korean War. According to reports in
the South Korean media, the Chinese were suspected of smuggling copper
wire out of the North Korean city of Sinuiju, which lay on the other
side of the bridge. The reports said they were on a boat on the river
when they were shot.
“In the aftermath of the incident,
The incident comes in the midst of a furor over the
has refused to take sides, infuriating South Korean and U.S. officials
who say there is overwhelming evidence that an unprovoked North Korean
torpedo attack caused the ship to go down.
The irony of
“This time it is their citizens who are killed, and they show they are not so naive after all about
“It is rare for
The stretch of the Yalu just south of Dandong is
frequently trafficked by smugglers, some of them bringing North
Korean-made drugs into
The North Korean government is especially strict
about the export of copper, which has in the past been looted from
factories, electrical and telecommunications facilities by Northerners
desperate for money. But the North’s border guards do not normally
shoot to kill — at least not when the smugglers are Chinese.
“Only their own people,” said Kim.
Tensions remain high in the region over the sinking
of the South Korean warship Cheonan. The Global Times, an
English-language newspaper with close ties to the Chinese Communist
Party, on Tuesday complained about joint U.S.-South Korean naval
exercises planned for the
ship went down. Some reports said the George Washington, a U.S.
aircraft carrier, would participate, although the Pentagon said that
decision had not been made.
“Though intended to send a threatening message to
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