Chinese merchant holds a protest in Pyongyang over non-payment

[Korean]

donga.com[English donga]

Chinese bizman holds solo protest in N.Korea over non-payment

APRIL 18, 2012 06:06
Chinese traders are complaining of not getting paid in transactions with North Korean merchants, with one even staging a solo protest in Pyongyang to demand his money, the Chinese daily Economic Observer said Monday.
Trade with North Korea had been considered "no touch" for Chinese, but stories spread that if a merchant stuffed twisted bread sticks in plastic bags in a cotton ball jacket of a soldier to pass the border to North Korea, he or she would earn quadruple profits.

A Chinese enchanted by this story started a business with North Korea 20 years ago. He worked with the North`s state-owned Chosun Kwangmyong General Trading Corp. but could not receive payments.

In the mid-1990s, he went to and from Pyongyang for eight months to ask for his money. He waited for the president of the North Korean company every day at the cabinet building, but in vain. When he tried to enter the building, guards pushed him back outside.

The Chinese man then launched a protest in front of the building with fellow merchants. When he held a placard, soldiers rushed to hold him back. After a few days, the North Korean company called him to give him 15,000 U.S. dollars and arranged a bus for him to urge him to return to China. The Chinese man said, "I didn`t expect to get all the money. I thought it would be at least OK to get some back."

When a person is ripped off by a North Korean trader, he or she often cannot get money back because of North Korean guards and erroneous phone numbers. The victim also faces difficulty in issuing an invitation for an entry visa.

The poor Chinese merchants and businessmen didn't understand that North Koreans viewed them as resources to be exploited, not as a business partner.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Those so-called "Chinese" are actually the ethnic Koreans from China, not many Han Chinese will do the business in Pyongyang.

 

[ephone]

However, they are still Chinese citizens. Their right should be protected.

 

[Adnan Faruqi]

Protest??????

Is it allowed in NK????????

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Those so-called "Chinese" are actually the ethnic Koreans from China, not many Han Chinese will do the business in Pyongyang.

i was gonna say, what business is there to do there?

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

i was gonna say, what business is there to do there?

Selling the daily commodities most likely.

 

[Raphael]

Careful 'Korean'. When Yanbian Koreans get ripped off by North Koreans, they take their revenge by raping and murdering their South Korean brethren.

 

[Korean]

Protest??????

Is it allowed in NK????????

This is why they were dragged away by North Korean soldiers.

 

[somebozo]

This is how NK treats its most important ally..shame.

 

[Korean]

Those so-called "Chinese" are actually the ethnic Koreans from China

No, the dude was Han Chinese named Wang Shi Ming(王旭&#26126.

? , ? ? ?? ? ÷? : : : ?

This is how NK treats its most important ally..shame.

North Koreans do not see China as an ally, merely a source of extortion.

BTW, So called Korean Chinese do not do business in North Korea, since they know better what kind of people North Korean regime is. It's the clueless Han Chinese folks who got suckered into this kind of things and stripped bare.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

No, the dude was Han Chinese named Wang Shi Ming(王旭&#26126.

? , ? ? ?? ? ÷? : : : ?

The name means nothing, most of ethnic Koreans in China do have a sinicized name, which differs from the names that used in NK/SK.

Here is a scholar/commentator from CCTV, her name is Wu Xuelan (吴学&#20848.

You can't even recognize her Korean ancestry by judging on her look and her name.

[video]http://v.ifeng.com/news/opinion/201204/d3a06eea-daf4-493e-b16f-4fba6fd49703.shtml[/video]

 

[Korean]

The name means nothing, most of ethnic Koreans in China do have a sinicized name, which differs from the names that used in NK/SK.

Surname Wang is rare to non-existent among Koreans.

 

[Raphael]

It probably was a Yanbian Korean. Chinese find it difficult to interact with Koreans because of their intense, pathological emotions (hwabyeong). There's a reason why the overwhelming majority of Chinese in SK are Chaoxianzu, not any of the other 55 ethnic groups, and why NK defectors are completely consumed within the local Yanbian community with little interaction with wider Chinese society. That's also the reason why NK defectors are exploited with forced marriages, labor, etc. The Yanbian Koreans hold a complete monopoly of power over them and the wider Chinese society either don't know or are powerless to intervene.

 

[Korean]

It probably was a Yanbian Korean.

Those people know North Korea better. It's the Han Chinese like Mr. Wang who gets suckered into this.

There's a reason why the overwhelming majority of Chinese in SK are Chaoxianzu

No, the majority are Han Chinese. The government keeps statistics separately.