One of the state structures of the Republic of Korea (RK), controlled by the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea, wants to open a representative office in China that would oversee issues of cooperation with North Korea. The office should be located in one of the cities of China in the area of the Chinese-North Korean border. The experts, however, questioned the feasibility of establishing such a representative office.
The plan to open an office of inter-Korean cooperation in China was reported by the South Korean media, citing anonymous sources in the Ministry of Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the information received by journalists, the Association for the Support of Inter-Korean Exchanges and Cooperation, which is under the control of the alliance, is going to open a representative office.
The representative office will most likely appear in the city of Dandong, which is located on the border of China and the DPRK, directly opposite the North Korean city of Sinyzhu. Dandong and Sinuiju are separated by a border river through which the "Friendship Bridge" passes. Over this bridge in "pre-coronavirus times" usually passed more than 70 percent of North Korea's total trade with the outside world. Therefore, some called it the "Bridge of Life" for the Juche Country. Representative offices of North Korean organizations, companies and government agencies that were engaged in trade with China were based in Dandong. In addition, the city itself is quite significant, it has the most developed infrastructure on the Chinese-North Korean border, and therefore, if you open an office somewhere with an eye to working with the DPRK, then indeed Dandong is perhaps the best candidate.
"A significant number of non-governmental organizations operate in the border area between China and North Korea. The task of the representative office will be the legal protection of South Korean businessmen, public figures working there, as well as providing all kinds of support for projects to develop relations between South and North Korea," South Korean newspapers quoted the official as saying. from the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Last week, it became known that the agency decided to spend 338 million won (about $280,000) from the budget of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to set up an overseas representative office of the Association to Support Inter-Korean Exchanges and Cooperation. The department did not confirm or deny reports of a possible opening of an office in Dandong, but it seems that everything is moving towards that, and the money has been set aside just for this purpose. The Association so far has only its own headquarters in Seoul, and no foreign representations. Considering the tasks of the organization, as well as the impossibility of creating a representative office in the DPRK so far, it is most likely that an office will indeed appear in Dandong.
At the same time, many independent experts doubted the expediency of establishing a representative office at least at this stage. The fact is that back in June 2020, the DPRK defiantly blew up the communications office, which was located in an inter-Korean industrial park in the North Korean Kaesong region. This office just served as a representation, where the South and the North could communicate with each other. It is clear that the DPRK is unlikely to dare blow up the office in Dandong, but it may well ignore it, especially since North Korea continues to observe strict self-isolation.
The question also remains open about how the Chinese authorities will react to the idea of South Korea to create its representation on the border with the DPRK, given that sometimes relations between the South and North of Korea are far from ideal, and therefore, in certain situations, the office may begin to irritate the northerners.
Nevertheless, there are also those who are optimistic. Supporters of the opening of the representative office point out that since January 16, the DPRK has resumed railway communication with China, and therefore the day when North Korea will lift strict self-isolation is not far off. In addition, various cooperation projects, exchanges and other ideas for interaction with the DPRK require negotiations, various kinds of support, and here the office can play an important role as an analogue of the embassy.
bbabo.Net