North Korean Seafood, Banned by UN Sanctions, Is Being Sold Across the Chinese Border

Crab and other seafood from North Korea is being sold in Dandong, a Chinese city, in contravention of UN sanctions.

In this photograph taken on January 8, 2018, a North Korean seafood seller eats dinner at his shop with his wife in the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province. CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP/Getty Images

According to sanctions imposed by the United Nations in response to North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program, the export of coal, textiles, and seafood is illegal. Recent reports, however, show that crab and other seafood from the seclusive communist state is being sold in Dandong, a Chinese city located across the Yalu River that forms the natural border between North Korea and China.

“North Korean crabs are abundant in Dandong,” says a Dec. 4 report by Radio Free Asia (RFA) following a visit to the border city by their correspondents toward the end of last month.