CHINA: Customs officials examine trucks at border with North Korea

Chinese customs officials on the border with North Korea were checking trucks and vans travelling between the two countries on Wednesday (October 18, 2006). The regular inspections continued as normal in a week where countries are debating how to implement a new United Nations Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea as punishment for its nuclear test. At the border town of Dandong, Chinese officials checked cargo bound for North Korea. Workers were seen loading boxes into vans, undergoing checks before proceeding across the bridge to Sinuiju on the North Korean side. The new sanctions ban trade with North Korea in major weapons and materials that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction. The resolution calls on all countries to conduct inspections of all cargo to and from North Korea and to enforce the prohibition. Amid some concerns about China's willingness to implement the demands of the resolution, this week China's Foreign Ministry said it would diligently comply with enforcing the sanctions. The overseas edition of the People's Daily -- the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party -- said the North Korean test had "touched China's warning-line," adding that it had increased the common interest among Beijing, Washington, Tokyo and Seoul. In the analysis, the paper also said China could cut off vital food and fuel aid to North Korea if Pyongyang continues to escalate the situation.. China has made clear it is worried that tough action could provoke a collapse of the impoverished and highly militarised state. Chinese diplomats say Beijing's aim is to bring North Korea back to six-nation talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear weapons programmes.

ITN Source | October 18, 2006

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