north Korean border

[fran1942]

I am going to be in northern China for a while and was wondering if there are any tours or locations where the public can go and see the North Korean border eg. any guards or outposts etc like they have between South and North Korea ?

Thanks for any info.

[whereishunter]

I have been to Dandong which is a city over looking North Korea. I could not find any tours that would take foreigners as they are only for Chinese people. There are tours to the north but all of them start from Beijing.

Also the Chinese and North Korea border does not have the tension that the North and South border has. So there is not much too see, and at places I am sure you could walk into North Korea with out even known you have.

[roddy]

Someone did just that once and ended up spending quite a long time under arrest in North Korea. Canadian guy I think.

Anyway, if you want to see the border, head to Dandong as said. It is possible to join Chinese tour groups - see the going to North Korea discussion from last year, but it takes a bit of organizing and you might need to be able to speak Chinese. There are also much more expensive tours for foreigners, easy enough to find if you search.

[anon6969]

Do you have a link to any news article about that Canadian guy?

[fran1942]

makes you wonder how often US special forces go into North Korea to undertake covert surveillance from the hills etc.

Must happen, surely.

[roddy]

All I could find was this

Heavenly Lake’s cross-border status demands careful hiking – as recently as 1998 a British tourist was incarcerated for a month in North Korea for accidentally stepping across the poorly demarcated international line

Must have misremembered the details.

[liuzhou]

as recently as 1998 a British tourist was incarcerated for a month in North Korea for accidentally stepping across the poorly demarcated international line

Luckier than the South Korean tourist who was just shot dead, then.

http://english.sina.com/world/1/2008/0711/171039.html

[fran1942]

I just read you can do speedboat tours on the Yalu river which go right to the North Korean shoreline.

However, I will be there in January, so I imagine the Yalu will be iced over ?

[randall_flagg]

When I was in Dandong I was told that there is a group of locals that swim across the river in the morning. What fun!

[fran1942]

Can someone please tell me if the Yalu river at Dandong is iced over in early January.

I am planning on doing the speedboat tour to the North Korean side, however will cancel if the river will be iced over.

Thanks

[roddy]

Merging. I wouldn't worry about it - if it is iced over, you can probably take a sleigh ride there.

[Murray]

L

uckier than the South Korean tourist who was just shot dead, then.

http://english.sina.com/world/1/2008/0711/171039.html

That article is interesting, but also makes me a bit suspicious. What was she doing wandering off at 4 in the morning and sneaking around, climbing a fence into a military area?

[liuzhou]

Other reports suggest she didn't climb a fence, but stepped over a wire.

The incident caused major friction in an already sensitive area.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071100314.html

and more at http://tinyurl.com/5tyqce

[Murray]

Well she's still wandering around that early in the morning, pushing her way into restricted areas? What did she think was going to happen?