At a time when the regime are heavily
clamping down on illegal border crossings, the number of legal
visitors to China is on the rise. 180,600 North Koreans legally
visited China last year.
The 180,600 visitors is an 18% increase
on the previous year's figure (152,300). Despite the increase, the
purposes of the visits were largely for employment or business. A
little under half of the visitors visited China for employment
purposes alone (79,600) which was closely followed by business
reasons (55,200).
North Koreans have traditionally been restricted from traveling overseas and have had their movements closely monitored. This monitoring continues as recent reports have suggested that
North Korea is stepping up their efforts to track down illegal over-stayers in China.
Source: Daily NK/Radio Free Asia
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