At a time when North Korea is rumbling again about setting up a special economic zone outside of Sinuiju, thoughts easily turn to North Pyong’an province, the northwesternmost province of the DPRK and the major gateway to China. During the Korean War a number of POW camps were set up by the Chinese military in North Pyong’an, and yesterday a nice cache of photos by the Chinese People’s Volunteers who ran the camps were released. The release of this information on Chinese government websites right now is inherently interesting, as it raises the recollection that the Chinese worked, fought, and policed along side the Korean People’s Army, as we may learn in novels like War Trash, but also that North Pyong’an was itself, and perhaps remains, a type of battleground. Click the image for a link to the gallery.
Adam Cathcart 