![]() However, business isn't bad for those in the tourist industry. The unfinished New Yalu River bridge that was designed to connect China's Dandong New Zone and North Korea's Sinuiju Thomas Peter/Reuters A security officer guards an entrance of a luxury apartment complex in the largely empty the Moon Island development in Dandong, a Chinese city on the North Korean border Damir Sagolj/Reuters Mostly empty apartment blocks are seen in the New Area of Dandong Brenda Goh/Reuters An unfinished apartment complex is seen in the New Area of Dandong Brenda Goh/Reuters The largely empty New Zone urban development in Dandong, China Thomas Peter/Reuters A man cycles through a largely empty shopping area in the New Zone urban development in Dandong Thomas Peter/Reuters The largely empty Commercial Street in the New Zone urban development in Dandong Thomas Peter/Reuters A traffic-free road runs past the empty customs building in the New Zone urban development in Dandong, a Chinese city near the North Korea border Thomas Peter/Reuters He told Reuters the apartments were completed in 2015 and two-thirds of them have been sold at around 9,000 yuan (£1,000) per square metre, but according to Zhang, few people have moved in. "If North Korea opened up, this would really do well to promote our piece (of land) here," said Zhang Liangliang, a real estate agent from Moon Island, a small island of modern high rises in the Yalu River just 680 metres away from the North Korean city of Sinuijiu. New sprawling development zones have cropped up, built on hopes that the North would eventually open up its economy to investment. ![]() A man and two boys travel on an ox-cart on the North Korean side of the Yalu River Damir Sagolj/Reuters A woman carries a bag on her back on the North Korean side of the Yalu River near Sinuiju Damir Sagolj/Reuters North Koreans stand on the banks of the Yalu River near the town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong Jacky Chen/ReutersĪbout 700 kilometres to the south, near the city of Dandong, the New Yalu River Bridge connecting the two countries is still unfinished. North Korea is clearly visible from Nanping – farmers using rudimentary ploughs, soldiers squatting by a simple outpost and antiquated trucks and buses sporadically rumbling by. ![]() Timber and other materials come in by truck from North Korea to Nanping over a concrete bridge. "Right now, all economic projects along the border have stalled because of rising tensions," he said. Iron ore from Musan has also stopped coming in, said Li Zhonglin, director of the College of Economics and Management at Yanbian University. And I was actually escorted off the site by police and military, who told me it was far too sensitive for me right now to even be reporting on something like an economic zone." Unfinished apartments for workers are seen in the Helong Frontier Economic Cooperation Zone in Nanping, Jilin province, China Sue-Lin Wong/Reuters Unfinished buildings are seen in the Helong Frontier Economic Cooperation Zone in Nanping, Jilin province, China on the border with North Korea Sue-Lin Wong/Reuters Locals read promotional boards about planned economic zones along the China-North Korea border in Nanping Sue-Lin Wong/Reutersīeyond the unfinished buildings and total lack of North Korean workers, an all out ban on North Korean coal imports is another clear sign of China's increasingly tough stance on Pyongyang. A Reuters journalist who visited the area said: "I saw no North Korean workers, and everyone I spoke to in the area said that no one had come yet. But the dormitories for the workers are half-completed and the economic zone hasn't opened. ![]() One thousand North Korean workers were supposed to have started work last year, a number set to increase to 10,000 this year and 20,000 next year. It was intended to connect China and North Korea via air, road and freight train routes, allowing both countries to export products to Japan, South Korea, the United States and Europe – an aspiration thwarted by tightening global sanctions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes. The Northeast Asia Special Region was meant to feature golf courses, blueberry fields, horse riding, logistics hubs and trade in everything from timber to textiles. No reasons have been given and no announcements have been made in official media. ![]() What was planned in 2011 as a 30 billion yuan (£3.5bn) development intended to showcase economic engagement between the two countries has stalled. In the Northeast Asia Special Region straddling China's border with North Korea, the area around Nanping village is dotted with half-finished buildings, cranes on empty lots, piles of concrete pipes and a few construction workers. ![]()
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