美国国家公共电台 NPR Real Estate Jumps In Chinese City Bordering North Korea

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Now let's go to one place that will be closely watching this summit between President Trump 1 and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. It's a city on China's border with North Korea. If the North opens up, people there are well-positioned to be at the center of an economic boom. NPR's Rob Schmitz reports.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE 2: Each afternoon at half past four, the train from Pyongyang to Beijing passes over a rickety bridge spanning the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. North Korean passengers wear pins bearing the images of past leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il wave to hordes 3 of tourists who come here from all over China to catch a glimpse of the mysterious land across the river.

Occasional trains like this are some of the only traffic left on the China-Korea Friendship Bridge, a structure that typically carries more than 70 percent of all goods imported into North Korea. But these are atypical times. U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests have reduced traffic on this bridge to a trickle 4, hitting the economy of Dandong, a city of nearly 2 1/2 million people, hard. But then in April, Dandong's fate suddenly got brighter.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: North and South Korea agreed to work toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

SCHMITZ: The historic meeting between leaders of North and South Korea provided a glimmer 5 of hope for Dandong that the quiet, closed country across the river may soon open for business. Investors 6 from across the country flooded in.

BOB LI: (Through interpreter) They came from Beijing, Wenzhou and all over northeast China.

SCHMITZ: Bob Li oversees 7 a crew of workers renovating 8 his real estate agency, making it more accommodating for a sudden surge in customers. He says in the two weeks following the Korean summit, home prices here went up more than 50 percent.

LI: (Through interpreter) I've never seen anything like this in Dandong. We've had several buyers coming in from all over China buying up apartments. To them, the homes were very cheap, so they would buy as many as possible.

SCHMITZ: And now a city whose economy was battered 9 by international sanctions appears to be back in business, apartment complexes and Spanish-style villas 10 under construction despite new local laws meant to curb 11 speculation 12. A bulk of the sales are taking place near the foot of a massive new suspension bridge China built across the river to North Korea in the hopes that the North would build a road to it. Kim Jong Un refused. So for four years, this four-lane, $330 million bridge has connected the world's second-largest economy to a farm field on the North Korean side of the river, another empty Dandong bridge full of potential. Again, real estate agent Bob Li.

LI: (Through interpreter) The rumor 13 around town is that if the North opens up, it'll finally build a road to the bridge, and our city will be linked to Seoul, South Korea. Pyongyang would just be a stop on the way.

SCHMITZ: It's this, a potential land link between Dandong and Seoul via North Korea, that has attracted real estate investors like Mr. Xu, who only gives his surname for fear of getting caught up in the local crackdown on real estate speculation. Xu just arrived from Shanghai.

XU: (Through interpreter) Whatever happens between the U.S. and the North is irrelevant 14. It's clear to me that the relationship between China and North Korea is moving forward. And if the North opens up as a result, Dandong will be transformed. This is a port city after all.

SCHMITZ: But local businesspeople remain skeptical 15.

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SCHMITZ: Four men sit outside their auto 16 parts shop in central Dandong grousing 17 about how outsiders are taking a big gamble by investing in this city.

YANG: (Foreign language spoken).

SCHMITZ: "I just don't think a summit with Trump will persuade North Korea to open up," says a man named Yang. "Trump's always changing his mind," he says, "and we don't know what Kim Jong Un ever thinks either."

YANG: (Foreign language spoken).

SCHMITZ: "The two of them behave just like little children," he says. "And why," he asks, "should Dandong put its future in their hands?" Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Dandong.

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