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N Korea at crossroads

From wigs to seafood, North Korea scrambles for China trade

Exports return to pre-COVID levels, but new flare-up in Chinese infections poses risk

The Friendship Bridge and the Broken Bridge are illuminated at night over the Yalu River, which separates North Korea's Sinuiju from China, in Dandong   © Reuters

DANDONG, China -- North Korea's trade with China has recovered to 90% of pre-pandemic levels this year by staying under the radar of United Nations sanctions, as a walk through this border city shows.

A Chinese man in his 50s who runs a trading house here said he was recently approached by an executive from a North Korean company asking him to buy North Korean wigs.

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