A panorama photo of the North Korean city of Hyesan taken in 2013. (Wikimedia Commons)
Chinese goods are pouring into North Korea through the customs office in Hyesan this November 2026, yet traders who built their businesses on South Korean goods have little to celebrate. Tough inspections now keep South Korean products out of official shipments, and these traders are waiting for smuggling routes to reopen while demand stays strong.
“Chinese cargo keeps coming in through customs, but South Korean products are strictly banned,” a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK on Tuesday. “People still want South Korean goods, but traders have no way to get supplies, so they’re desperate for smuggling to open up again.”
Hyesan sits on the upper Yalu River across from Changbai in China’s Jilin province. It has long been one of the busiest hubs of North Korea-China trade on the border. Chinese goods have flowed steadily through the city since Hyesan customs reopened after China’s National Day holiday in mid-October.
Even after North Korea banned private smuggling, traders could slip prohibited South Korean items into other imports through state smuggling. These are unofficial cross-border shipments run by state trading companies with the authorities’ approval. They move outside regular customs channels and have long served as a back door for banned goods.
State smuggling has now effectively stopped, and trade runs almost entirely through official customs. According to the source, that shift has made it impossible to hide South Korean goods inside larger shipments.
Customs officers in Hyesan are combing through every incoming load of cargo. If they find even a single South Korean item, they reportedly confiscate the entire shipment. Traders who strip South Korean labels to pass goods off as Chinese-made risk losing everything they import.
“In the past, you could bring in 10 pieces of South Korean clothing through state smuggling, but now even one or two is hard,” the source said. “Plenty of people still look for South Korean products, and many traders complain about missing out on easy money.”
Why South Korean goods are worth the risk for North Korean traders
Traders keep chasing South Korean goods because the crackdown has made them extremely scarce. That scarcity means a small shipment can bring in outsized profits for anyone who gets it through.
The ban is part of Kim Jong Un’s wider crackdown on South Korean goods and culture. That campaign includes the 2020 Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Law, which punishes North Koreans caught consuming or spreading South Korean media.
A trader earns a net profit of about 5 to 10 yuan (roughly $0.70 to $1.45) on an ordinary piece of Chinese clothing. A single South Korean garment, by contrast, brings in at least 300 yuan (about $43), the source said.
That means selling 100 Chinese garments yields 500 to 1,000 yuan. Selling just 10 South Korean items can bring in 3,000 yuan almost at once.
Despite those hopes, the chances that smuggling will return any time soon remain slim. China has kept up a strong crackdown along the border, and the informal routes traders once relied on are all blocked. Some Chinese smugglers are searching for new routes, but they have yet to produce clear results.
North Korean traders are instead pinning their hopes on rumors that their own trucks will soon be allowed into China. When private smuggling flourished, North Korean truck drivers crossing into China would hide banned goods in their vehicles, and traders believe the same method could work again.
“Right now, only Chinese trucks are coming in, and our trucks can’t go out to China,” the source said. “But there’s a rumor that our trucks will soon travel back and forth, so traders are hopeful.”
Whether the North Korean authorities will actually let their trucks operate freely in China remains unclear. So far, North Korean trucks are still missing even from the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge between Dandong and Sinuiju.
“Traders don’t think official customs trade alone will let them make big money like before,” the source said. “They’ll use the connections and experience they’ve built up to open new smuggling routes one way or another.”
Meanwhile, some North Korean traders have stopped handling banned goods that carry a high risk of punishment. They are looking instead for profitable seasonal products to sell in the jangmadang, North Korea’s markets. While some traders scout for new smuggling routes, others are switching their product lines altogether to keep their businesses afloat.
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About This Translation
This article was originally written in Korean and translated with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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