How Many Chinese Airports Are Near the China-North Korea Border?

Hunchun is next to Russia and the Rason region of North Korea, and now there is a direct highway from here to Changchun, less than 500 kilometers. Before the end of this year, probably the high speed train will be opened, then Changchun to Hunchun will be 2 and a half hours. It will be much more convenient for me to come and play. Interestingly, Hunchun is connected to Yanji, the capital of Yanbian Prefecture, by highway, which takes only about 1 hour. Yanji is planning to build a new airport, and Hunchun is going to build a new airport. The distance between these two airports is 130 kilometers in a straight line and 140 kilometers by road. It is not common to see two airports at such a distance in a border city.

The construction of the new airport in Yanji, Baidu encyclopedia says: After more than 50 years of development, the airport has been in the city. This makes the construction of the city affected by the restriction of height and the expansion of the urban area. Third, the airport is located in the city, military aircraft exercises, civilian aircraft landing and taking off, bursts of roar deafening, the noise of the aircraft roar so that the people’s lives are difficult to quiet; air pollution is very serious, a large number of carbon dioxide emissions seriously affect the air quality. Based on the above reasons, Han Zizhong suggested the Jilin Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government to coordinate with the army and civil aviation departments to relocate Yanji Airport to a place far away from the city for reconstruction.

What about Hunchun Airport? The earliest report I could find was in 2011, when Changchun Daily reported that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, Hunchun will accelerate the construction of internal and external corridors, relying on the construction of the Changjitu development and opening up of the pilot area, accelerate the docking of transportation infrastructure with the northeastern hinterland, and plan for the construction of general-purpose airports, to build a modernized integrated transportation system. Relying on the strategic cooperation mechanism between China and North Korea and China and Russia, Hunchun will actively promote the renovation of port facilities and comprehensive utilization of port facilities in the adjacent areas of the two countries, and strive to build an international transportation hub; Relying on the international cooperation mechanism of the Sea of Japan Rim, Hunchun will promote multilateral cooperation on the basis of the maintenance and development of the existing land and sea intermodal transport routes.

Notice that this story says the airport construction is seeking cooperation.

At the end of 2013, two years later, here’s what the official media in Jilin province had to say.

China Hunchun International Cooperation Demonstration Zone Commuter Airport and Aviation Industrial Park Project is progressing well, and has been included in the 12th Five-Year Plan of Jilin Province Commuter Airport Construction and Airport Layout Plan of Civil Aviation Administration of Northeast China, and is planned to start construction in May 2014 and put into use in October 2015. The project is of great significance in promoting cooperation and development among countries in Northeast Asia, and in promoting the economic development and national defense consolidation of border ethnic minority areas in China.

Notice the change in the wording of the phrase “consolidation of national defense”. Why, I can’t say.

Anyway, I’ve talked to locals in Hunchun, and planes from this airport can be in Pyongyang in a few minutes.

Also, that being said, it’s really a tradition that Yanji has a lot of airports. Japanese hypocrisy period, Japan built eight military airports in Yanbian, respectively, located in Dunhua City Shaheyan town, Dunhua City, western (now military airport), Yanji City, flour mill area, Yanji City, Chaoyangchuan (now Yanji Airport), Longjing City, Dongshengchong Town, Wangqing County, Luozigou Town, Tumen City, suburban areas, Hunchun City, suburbs, which is the most complete remains of the Japanese airfield in Shaheyan Town, Dunhua City, and in 2009, in the third national Cultural Relics Census, cultural relics experts discovered this airfield.

When I have time, I’m going to check out some of these “Imperial Army” sites.