N. Korea sets up consular office in Chinese border town: sources

SHENYANG, China, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has opened a consulate office in a Chinese border town and has begun issuing visas, informed sources here said Wednesday.

North Korean diplomats in China, accompanied by regional Chinese officials, on
Tuesday held a opening ceremony for the office in Dandong, as a branch of North
Korea's consulate in Shenyang, sources said.
Dandong, a Chinese port city in the northwest, is connected by rail with Shenyang
and Sinuiju in North Korea and serves as the logistics channel for some 70
percent of the estimated annual US$2 billion worth of trade between North Korea
and China.
The new office is reportedly run by two officials and has begun issuing visas to
Chinese travelers going to North Korea for business purposes.
North Korea is said to have approved the office opening late last year.
As the international community was stiffening economic sanctions against
Pyongyang for its missile and nuclear tests, North Korea's reliance of trade with
China has jumped drastically, with imports and exports with the neighboring
country soaring 478 percent and 550 percent on year, respectively, in the first
half of 2009.