Amid ongoing fears surrounding novel coronavirus, cross-border activity between the Chinese city of Dandong and North Korean city of Sinuiju remains at a standstill, NK News understands.

The Yalu River friendship bridge, which typically facilitates the majority of China-DPRK trade, remains absent of trains and trucks, NK News understands, while river traffic has also decreased significantly.

“Nothing is crossing the border,” a source said about the current situation in Dandong. “It’s been dead.”

Video recorded early morning this week shows quiet along the border | Video: NK News

However, other informed sources told NK News in early March that although the bridge between Dandong and Sinuiju was effectively closed, shuttle buses had been seen between the two countries from time-to-time.

The purpose of those short trips was unclear, the informed sources said.

Overall, the information tallies with what satellite imagery analyzed last week by NK News‘s sister site NK Pro shows to be the case: that the lack of traffic on the bridge means there has been an absence of activity in the customs areas on either side of the border since early February.

But the extent of how the corresponding lack of trade is impacting the market situation inside North Korea appears to be limited, indicators suggest.

Data obtained regularly by NK Pro shows that exchange rates and energy prices continue to remain mostly stable in Pyongyang.

And while there were some notable increases in the seven indicators tracked by the Seoul-based Daily NK in late January – when North Korea shut its borders – the prices has been slowly decreasing ever since.

Between February 27 and March 7, nationwide-averaged figures even showed moderate decreases across the full seven indicators tracked by Daily NK.

But one community thought to be at high-risk given current travel restrictions are the small numbers of North Korean workers and citizens still stationed overseas.

Some continue to remain in China and neighboring Russia, NK News understands this week from sources and prior reporting, communities with reduced ability to earn foreign currency and facing significant hurdles to get home.

Another area of impact relates to infrastructure.

After China-DPRK relations warmed following five bilateral summits between Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un in 2018-2019, the relationship blossomed into renewed efforts to connect an unfinished new bridge between Dandong and Sinuiju.

But as another possible casualty of novel coronavirus, this project has since late December also appeared to grind to a halt.

Edited by Oliver Hotham