Dispute over border telecom plan further strains China-North Korea ties 

A new sign of discord has emerged in the ties between North Korea and China over Beijing's plan to install telecommunication facilities near its border, which analysts say could be a way for China to exert its influence over its southern neighbor.

Pyongyang has apparently objected to China's plan to install the facilities, which could broadcast FM radio signals into North Korea.

Pyongyang sent an email complaining about the plan to the U.N. telecoms agency, the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU, saying Beijing failed to consult it about the plan in advance, which constitutes an "infringement" of an ITU guideline, Kyodo News reported this week.

The complaint was sent after the U.N. agency, which facilitates global communication connectivity, disclosed information in June about China's plan to set up 191 telecom facilities capable of broadcasting FM signals, including 17 stations near the North Korean border, according to Kyodo.

Pyongyang said those 17 stations, including the ones in the border city of Dandong, could cause "serious interference."

A spokesperson for ITU told VOA Korean that "ITU cannot confirm whether or not it received such a complaint" as "such objections may contain sensitive or confidential information not intended for the general public and may hamper bilateral consultations."

The spokesperson said China and North Korea have "no formal obligation to get agreement from each other before registering FM stations with ITU or bringing them into service.

"Therefore, operation of FM stations in these countries without prior coordination does not represent an infringement of ITU's Radio Regulations," but "such coordination is very much desirable and recommended to avoid interference."

Patricia Kim, a fellow specializing in Chinese foreign policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said, "It's quite notable that Pyongyang chose to publicly lodge a complaint with an international organization rather than to resolve this dispute with Beijing privately."

"This is not how allies typically handle disputes, and the incident suggests that Beijing and Pyongyang are not on favorable or intimate terms at the moment," she said.

Lui Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Wednesday that China and North Korea "have always maintained friendly relations" and the "relevant issue can be properly resolved through dialogue and communication."

Growing signs of strain

Some signs of trouble have begun to show in the relationship between Pyongyang and Beijing since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un forged a close bond with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2023 when the two met in Russia.

Putin reciprocated Kim's visit by taking a trip to Pyongyang in June when the two signed a mutual defense treaty and vowed to deepen their military cooperation.

A few days after Putin's Pyongyang visit, North Korea switched its state TV broadcast transmission from a Chinese satellite to a Russian one, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry.

In July, China demanded that North Korea take back all its workers in China after their visas expired, while Pyongyang wanted to repatriate them gradually over time, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

North Korean workers are thought to have remained in China despite U.N. sanctions that required them to be sent back by December 2019.

Analysts say China may have decided to put telecom facilities at the border to transmit information to North Koreans as a way to exert its influence in the country and to offset its strained ties with the regime.

Beijing "could have made the decision not to put anything near the North Korean border, but they didn't do that," said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.

"China wants to dominate East Asia," and spreading Chinese propaganda and perspectives to promote its lifestyle and get people to buy from Chinese markets is "a key part of China's plans for dominance in the region," he said.

China has been North Korea's largest trading partner. In 2023, North Korea conducted more than 98% of its foreign trade with China. But the trade between the two has been falling this year, dropping 6% in May from April, according to Chinese customs trade data released in May and reviewed by VOA Korean.

A report by the Korean Institute for International Economic Policy in Seoul forecasts that "North Korea's exports are unlikely to increase significantly" in 2024 "as North Korea-Russia military cooperation is expected to continue."

Military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has branched into economic cooperation. On Wednesday, talks were held in Pyongyang between industry and trade representatives of North Korea and Russia on "further developing the economic cooperation," according to state-run KCNA.

Fear of outside information

Even if Beijing does not intend to convey information directly to North Koreans, the regime might have objected to Chinese telecom stations because they provide an "additional path through which information will be able to reach the country from the outside," said Martyn Williams, a senior fellow for the Stimson Center's Korea Program.

"Some of the new stations will be receivable inside North Korea, and it could be for this reason that North Korea has complained," Williams said.

North Korea is known to take tight control of information coming from the outside world, prohibiting media content that is not sanctioned by the government.

The regime cracks down harshly on people who receive outside information, especially South Korean drama and music, by sending them to prison with the penalty of months of hard labor or sometimes even death.

Michael Swaine, senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said despite North Korea's attempt to control information entering the country, the complaint about the Chinese telecom stations shows that "Pyongyang does not control its broadcast space."

Soyoung Ahn and Jiha Ham contributed to this report.