Daily NK
Kwon Jeong Hyun
8/24/2007
The term for the train crew of North Korean Pyongyang-Beijing international rail connecting North Korea and China is limited to two years, relayed a related person of Dandong Customs in China on the 22nd.
The source at the customs said in an interview with DailyNK, “The crew of Pyongyang-Beijing international rail is a very competitive position. Only by paying a significant sum of bribe can one gain such a position.”
The source said, “Most of the international rail crew simultaneously trade. The crew who can conduct secret trade via trains is known as a covetable profession among the North Korean citizens.
Further, “The term of employment for North Korean crew do not surpass two years. There is so much corruption and the positions are quickly exchanged after the upper-level management receiving bribery from other applicants.”
He said that he has received introductions from new North Korean crews to watch over them during the 2 years.
The person said, “Most of the crew do secret trade. They think that they have offered that much, so they should earn that much as well. There are many instances where even the customs is aware of what is going on.”
He said that the product which is usually traded is cigarettes. “Cigarettes are brought in North Korea at around 4 boxes (around 2,000 packs) per a person.”
“They relay goods that outsiders send and also goods that cannot legally come out of North Korea. Please understand my difficulty in revealing the situation in greater detail. All kinds of goods can be secretly brought onto trains.”
The cigarettes are a favorite good which both the North Korean and Chinese customs make efforts to pay back the duties. However, by bringing these cigarettes secretly into North Korea without the payment of duties, the making of money is inevitable.”
The source said, “According to what I have heard from Chosun (North Korea) crews, there is a saying that failure to earn several hundreds of thousands of dollars during the two years is moronic. How many train crew are there? They consider the international rails as private trading floors, so what is there that they cannot do? I know of workers of the international freight trains who saved over 50,000 dollars.”
He said, “While observing North Korean railroads for over 10 years, I only saw once one person working as a crew for the freight train for four years.”
International rail between China and North Korea operates twice weekly. 2-3 passenger trains on the back of the Pyongyang-Shinuiju rail and 1 freight train have been divided as international rails and operate to Beijing.”
