Reinforcing borders

China is beefing up its borders with North Korea, reinforcing and adding to fence lines and foot patrols soldiers at a particularly vulnerable spot that was once a popular place for North Korean refugees to cross, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reports.

China began building tall, barbed-wire-topped fences along the North Korean border near Dandong several years ago, but Yonhap quotes local residents in the area as saying current problems with stability in North Korea seem to have pushed more construction.

China’s border with North Korea is one of its most tightly controlled in recent years, patrolled by the People’s Liberation Army. International groups have called on China to end its practice of shipping back North Korean refugees when they are caught, but China appears to remain worried that continuing instability in the hermit nation could leave it with a flood of hungry immigrants.