＜North Korea Video＞State Conducts Large-Scale Vehicle Smuggling: BYD, Toyota, Heavy Equipment... 24 Smuggling Bases in Just 80km Stretch Near Hyesan

Hyesan in North Korea's Ryanggang Province has emerged as a hub for "state smuggling" that undermines international sanctions.

In mid-September, ASIAPRESS captured with super-telephoto cameras hundreds of smuggled vehicles parked throughout Hyesan on the upper Yalu River, facing Changbai County in China's Jilin Province.

Large quantities of vehicles have been brought in, including passenger cars, buses, large trucks, and construction equipment with license plates removed, as well as luxury cars such as Chinese BYD electric vehicles, Japanese Toyotas, and Hongqi, known as China's "Rolls-Royce."

These are vehicles brought in through "state smuggling," in which North Korean authorities collude with Chinese smugglers to evade sanctions against North Korea, crossing the border by creating paths with excavators at shallow fords in the Yalu River or by building temporary bridges. Satellite image analysis revealed more than 24 smuggling routes in just an approximately 80km stretch downstream along the Yalu River.

Due to the sudden increase in vehicles, Hyesan is experiencing severe parking shortages, with school playgrounds taken over by smuggled vehicles and factories demolished and transformed into massive parking lots. Behind the large-scale vehicle smuggling taking place at the North Korea-China border appears to be the policy permitting private vehicle ownership, implemented in February of this year.

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