page_title: China–North Korea border
section_title: Border security
hierarchical_section_title: China–North Korea border / Border security
caption_attribution_description: 巡道工出品 photo by Xundaogong 图们江铁路桥
context_page_description: The China–North Korea border is the international border separating the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
context_section_description: The 1,420 km border between North Korea and China has been described as "porous". Many North Korean defectors cross into China.
  The Chinese government transferred responsibility for managing the border to the army from the police in 2003. Chinese authorities began building wire fences "on major defection routes along the Tumen River" in 2003. Beginning in September 2006, China erected a 20 kilometres (12 mi) fence on the border near Dandong, along stretches of the Yalu River delta with lower banks and narrower width. The concrete and barbed wire fence ranged in height from 8 feet (2.4 m) to 15 feet (4.6 m).
  In 2007, a U.S. official stated that China was building more "fences and installations at key border outposts". In the same year, it was reported that North Korea had started building a fence along a 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) stretch of its side of the Yalu River, and had also built a road to guard the area.
  In 2011, it was reported that China was building fences 4 metres (13 ft) high near Dandong, and that 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) of this new fencing had been built.  It was also reported that China was reinforcing patrols, and that new patrol posts were being built on higher ground to give wider visibility over the area. According to a resident of the area: "It's the first time such strong border fences are being erected here. Looks like it is related to the unstable situation in North Korea." The resident also added that previously "anybody could cross if they really wanted" as the fence had only been 10 feet (3.0 m) with no barbed wire.
  In 2014, an Australian journalist who visited Dandong reported a low level of border security. In 2015, fencing was reported as the exception rather than the rule. In 2015, a photojournalist who traveled along the Chinese side of the border commented that fencing was rare and that it would be easy to cross the Amnok river when it was frozen. The same report noted friendly contact between people on opposite sides of the border. In 2018, a photojournalist drove along the border and described it as "mile after mile of nothing, guarded by no-one".
  In 2015, a single rogue North Korean soldier killed four ethnic Korean citizens of China who lived along the border of China with North Korea.
  Rumours of Chinese troop mobilizations on the border frequently circulate in times of heightened tension on the Korean peninsula. According to scholar Adam Cathcart, these rumours are hard to substantiate and hard to interpret.
  A leaked China Mobile document that went viral on Chinese social media on 7 December 2017 allegedly revealed Chinese government plans to construct five "refugee settlement points" along the border to North Korea in Changbai county and Jilin province. This was apparently in preparation for a large influx of North Korean refugees if the Kim regime collapsed in a potential conflict with the United States. The Guardian quoted the document: "Due to cross-border tensions … the [Communist] party committee and government of Changbai county has proposed setting up five refugee camps in the county."
caption: Railway bridge over the Tumen River
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