China has been propping up North Korea for a while and now, after sending them a bunch of food aid, North Korea keeps the railroad cars it came in:
Absconding with Chinese wagons would be a strange move for North Korea because Beijing is Pyongyang’s closest political ally and biggest provider of food, goods and oil. Analysts monitoring North Korea said Chinese officials had privately complained to them that the North Koreans were dismantling Chinese wagons and selling them back as scrap metal.
The Chinese railway ministry suspended a number of rail freight services into North Korea on October 11, humanitarian agencies operating in North Korea told the Financial Times. The ministry told international aid agencies that it would not send any more wagons into North Korea until Pyongyang returned the 1,800 Chinese wagons.
This isn’t the first time they have disappeared a bunch of vehicles. There is an issue of some cattle trucks:
North Korea has a history of not returning vehicles. In 1998, the late Chung Ju-yung, founder of South Korea’s Hyundai Group, donated 1,001 cows to North Korea to make amends for stealing a cow as he escaped from the north as a boy.
Pyongyang said the cows should be transported on Hyundai trucks. The trucks were never seen again.
China isn’t too pleased with North Korea. It will be interesting to see if they do anything rash about this theft. Or if North Korea just shrugs and smiles like Matthew Modine in Vision Quest after getting caught sniffing Karla’s panties. Everyone knows you did it, just give the cars back and try to save some face.
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