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    'Quite backwards': Chinese tourists gawk at impoverished North Koreans

    Thousands of tourists flock to a stretch of the country’s 880-mile border with North Korea each month to point binoculars at their poor neighbours
    by Tom Phillips in Dandong Sep 14, 2017 4 minutes
    DANDONG, CHINA - MAY 23: (CHINA OUT) Chinese tourists look and take pictures of a North Korean soldier in a watchtower as they ride on a tourist boat on the Yalu river with North Korean territory on both sides, north of the border city of Dandong, Liaoning province, northern China near Sinuiju, North Korea on May 23, 2017 in Dandong, China. China has long been North Korea's main ally and trading partner, but relations are increasingly strained by continued missile testing and provocations by the regime of Kim Jong Un. The North is almost entirely dependent on trade with China to feeds its impoverished economy, yet it has ignored calls by the international community to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs. At least three-quarters of trade between the two nations flows through points along its 880-mile long shared border, a divide that reveals stark contrasts in development. Cities such as Dandong boast high-rise buildings and advanced infrastructure, and the Friend...

    “This is a must-see,” tour guide Yu Quanqing tells his passengers as he whisks them towards a riverside gateway to the hidden kingdom of Kim Jong-un.

    Within an hour of being picked up at the heart of this picturesque Chinese border town, they are streaking down the Yalu river on Suzuki-powered speedboats and ferries, smartphones and selfie sticks at the ready as they approach the most secretive society on earth.

    “As soon as we’re around that bend we’ll be in North Korea,” the tour leader of one packed vessel shouts as members of his 50-strong band prepare for their smash-and-grab-style junket into foreign lands.

    “Both sides of the

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