Hundreds mourn Kim in China border city

Chinese border city of Dandong yesterday to pay their respects to the country’s late leader.
Mourners placed wreaths and bouquets of white and yellow flowers below a large portrait of Kim Jong-Il, who died of a heart attack in Pyongyang on Saturday at 69, triggering mass mourning in North Korea.
Many appeared to be from North Korea, and were wearing enamelled lapel pins bearing the likeness of Kim or his father, Kim Il-Sung, on their winter coats and dark suit jackets.
Dandong, a city of 2,5 million people in northeast China, is the main portal for trade with impoverished North Korea, which depends heavily on its wealthier neighbour for oil and food.
Yesterday, an AFP correspondent saw at least 10 fully loaded cargo trucks crossing into North Korea on a bridge linking the two countries.
On the North Korean side of the border, across the Yalu River, flags could be seen flying at half-mast, while in Dandong itself, North Korean restaurants and export businesses were closed.
An AFP reporter in Dandong said there appeared to be fewer North Koreans in the town than usual, and hotel staff reported that many North Korean guests had checked out after Kim’s death was announced.
A consular official told AFP visas for Chinese individuals would not be granted until after the mourning period ends next week.
Visitors to the consulate paid their respects in silence before being moved on by guards. They declined to speak to AFP about Kim’s death, many shying away from having their photographs taken.
Local vendors outside set up temporary flower stalls on street corners, selling chrysanthemum blooms that China’s official Xinhua news agency said were brought in from neighbouring areas to meet strong demand.
Nearby peddlers sold souvenirs for US$3,15, framed in plastic sheets protecting the pictured faces of Kim and his late father, North Korea’s founding president Kim Il-Sung.
China has sought to boost trade so as to encourage its isolated neighbour to embark on market-oriented economic reforms. Trade surged an annual 87 percent in the first seven months of this year to US$3,1 billion.
The two nations share a 1 415-kilometre border and a significant portion of all trade between North Korea and the outside world comes by road and rail through Dandong.
The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has caught most of the world off guard. Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Washington and Moscow are all concerned about a smooth transition which will see Kim’s youngest son Kim Jung-un take over the reins of power.
Russia and neighbour to North Korea have always had close economic ties, and experts in Moscow believe the change in leadership shouldn’t affect the projects the two countries are working on. Biggest of all are the Trans-Korean gas pipeline, and the Khasan-Raijan railway, which aims to restore connections between North and South Korea.
The pipeline deal is still being discussed, and Russian Railways (RZD) completed the first step of the Khasan- Rajin project in October, saying all the works will follow its schedule.
Markets will also remain largely untouched, adds Sergey Glushkov, Investcafe analyst.
“Most likely we won’t see any sharp changes in North Korea’s policy after the leader is changed, so North Korean news won’t have long-term influence on markets.”
The economic co-operation between the countries was especially dynamic in Soviet times. In the second half of 20th century USSR was not only the biggest foreign economic partner of North Korea, but also an important supplier of strategic materials and technology to the Republic.
In 1989 North Korea’s trade with Russia comprised 56,8 percent of the Republic’s total trade turnover.
Since then the volume of bilateral trade between the countries has decreased, with Russia now third on North Korea’s list of its major economic partners. With trade turnover currently estimated at about US$100 million a year.
Russia’s Far East is the place with the biggest presence of North Korea’s businesses.
One of the key areas of economic co-operation between the two countries has traditionally been involvement of North Koreans in a number of Russian industries, such as timber production, agriculture and fishing.
According to some estimates, the number of North Korean specialists working in Russia is above 15 thousand.
However, North Korea’s outstanding debt estimated at US$8,8 billion remains the biggest issue restraining bilateral economic cooperation between the countries, says Russia´s Ministry for Economic Development.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will hold a rare meeting with ruling and opposition leaders to encourage bipartisan responses to the death of Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), local media reported yesterday. Lee is expected to meet today with interim ruling party leader Park Geun-hye, opposition co-representative Won He-young and Shim Dae-pyung, chairman of the right-wing minority Liberty Forward Party, according to YTN television.
Both the conservative ruling Grand National Party and the main opposition Unified Democratic Party have called for bipartisan unity during times of uncertainty following the announcement of Kim’s death on Mon-day.
The two parties, however, clashed yesterday over whether to send a parliamentary delegation to attend Kim’s funeral ceremony. In their meeting earlier in the day, Park rejected Won’s proposal to form a parliamentary delegation to visit Pyongyang, citing the government policy of not sending an official condolence delegation.
Seoul allows civic groups and individuals to send messages of condolences to the DPRK, but does not plan to send a government-led delegation to Pyongyang to honour Kim, who the DPRK’s state media say died of a heart failure. Pyongyang said it will not accept foreign delegations for the funeral ceremony scheduled on December 28.
And, pro-Pyongyang Koreans in Japan were tight-lipped yesterday as they paid their respects to late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. – AFP/RT/Xinhua.