North Korea–Russia border

Russia and North Korea share a 17 km border along the Tumen River. The border was created when Russia gained the territory of Outer Manchuria from China in the treaties of Aigun and Beijing in 1858 and 1860. The border area was regarded as peripheral within Russia for much of its history, regaining some importance during the Korean War as a transport route of weapons and aid from the Soviet Union. According to a Wikileaks cable from 2009, the border appears to be lightly militarized. No Chinese or North Korean troops are visible from the Russian side. There is an unobtrusive Russian outpost off to the side of the border, with a fairly large radar array.^[1]

Geography

The border area is mostly plain, with few mountains. An important natural landmark is Lake Khasan, which was the location of the Battle of Lake Khasan. Other landmarks include sopka Zaozyornaya (Russian: сопка Заозёрная) at 42°26′47″N 130°35′53″E / 42.44639°N 130.59806°E / 42.44639; 130.59806 (Sopka Zaozyornaya), and Priozernaya mountain (Russian: гора Приозерная) at 42°32′14″N 130°41′46″E / 42.53722°N 130.69611°E / 42.53722; 130.69611 (Priozernaya mountain). On the Russian side stands a building called "Korean-Russian House of Friendship" (Russian: Дом корейско-российской дружбы), at 42°24′50″N 130°37′49″E / 42.41389°N 130.63028°E / 42.41389; 130.63028 (Korean-Russian House of Friendship). Furugelm Island, the southernmost point in Asian Russia, is located close to the maritime border.

History

Over time, the border has required re-demarcation due to the changing course of the Tumen River. The Soviet Union and North Korea signed an agreement on 22 January 1986 to demarcate the border, followed by a second pact on 3 September 1991.^[2] In the hope of placating the regime in Pyongyang, Moscow acceded to most of the latter's demands, including allowing the handful of river islands in the Tumen’s final stretch to come under North Korean control.^[3]

Between 2000 and 2003, the North Koreans conducted a joint topographical survey on terrain changes, which confirmed floods eroded part of both territories and washed away most of the boundary markers set up after the 1991 agreement. On November 3, 1998, Russia and North Korea, along with China, signed a treaty in Pyongyang to clearly demarcate their territorial waters on the Tumen River, which forms part of a border of three countries.^[4] The document was signed on behalf of Russia by ambassador Valeriy Denisov; for China by Wan Yongxiang; and for North Korea by Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon.^[5] To prevent further erosion, Russia planted willows along the river in 2003 and built a 13-kilometer bank, at a cost of approximately 11 billion won through 2005.^[6]

In February 2004, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandr Losukov and Korean ambassador Pak Y Chun signed a protocol between the Russian and North Korean governments on interstate border demarcation. This protocol is a supplement to the earlier Soviet-Korean agreements. The Russian Foreign Ministry thereafter said conclusively that – for the first time – the border between the two states was clearly determined and legally registered.^[7]

In a press conference following North Korea's 2009 nuclear test, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Lakizo, chief of the FSB Border Guard in Russia's Primorsky Krai, said Russian border guards were on duty as usual. He refused to comment on the nuclear test, and instead focused on cooperation with the North Korean border guards, saying "We have good relations with the North Korean border guards. We meet regularly at the level of Chiefs of Rason district border."^[8] However, Russia had placed an anti-missile defence system close to the border. The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Nikolai Makarov, told reporters – on a trip with President Dmitry Medvedev to Mongolia – that the military had deployed its S-400 anti-missile division, an anti-aircraft system capable of shooting down short and medium-range ballistic missiles. According to Makarov, the system would "guarantee" fragments from an errant North Korean missile would not fall on Russian territory.^[9]

Following the Bombardment of Yeonpyeong in November 2010, a spokesperson for the Russian Border Troops commented that "The situation on the border between Russia and North Korea remains tranquil and stable, Russian border guards are monitoring the border in a routine format, and there is no reason to put them on high alert".^[10]

In July 2012, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the two countries had signed a new border management treaty. According to the statement, the agreement paved the way for expanding relations between Moscow and Pyongyang. The state border regime treaty regulates the management of the shared border and cooperation between the border authorities of Russia and North Korea.^[11] The document also deepened bilateral cooperation against illegal and unregulated fisheries, by introducing a set of anti-poaching tools, up to a ban on the import of bioresources. A week later it was reported by Voice of Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed into law the agreement, following its ratification by the Russian parliament.^[12]

During the 2013 North Korean crisis Andrei Lankov said that in case of war between the two Koreas, Most refugees would likely head to China, whose border with North Korea is 100 times longer than Russia’s, and that closing the border would pose no problem for the Russian Armed Forces, especially given that it is marked by the lower reaches of the deep Tumen River. Troops from Russia’s Eastern Military District together with Russian police, Ministry of Emergency Situations and other departments held a large-scale drill during the crisis, to practice handling a nuclear incident, though the training situation envisaged a malfunction on a Russian nuclear submarine rather than radioactive fallout from the Korean Peninsula. Vladimir Yevseyev, head of the Public Political Studies Center, an independent non-profit think-tank in Moscow, said Russia’s joint economic projects with North Korea, such as the railroad to a new terminal at the North Korean port of Rason, would be put on hold in the event of war, though a skeletal staff would in any event remain at the Russian embassy in Pyongyang to provide the Kremlin with direct contact with the country's leadership.^[13]

Border crossing

A road and railway border crossing exists at the two countries' border. As of 2008, besides cargo trains, a passenger train between Russia's Khasan and Korea's Tumangang crossed the border twice a week. The train carried a direct car, which is successively attached to the two nations' long-distance trains, allowing direct service between Moscow and Pyongyang.^[14]

References