Trip to the North Korean Border in Dangdong

Prof Ruettimann and the students are standing on the Broken Bridge. In the background, the North Korean riverbank.
Prof Ruettimann and the students are standing on the Broken Bridge. In the background, the North Korean riverbank.

After a short night (some of us have seen the EURO semi final, starting at 3am China time), we all met punctually at 7.30am to board our bus to the North Korean boarder. Even the ride took us a little longer then expected, we arrived in Dangdong around lunch time. Dangdong is known for its railway connection to North Korea. It was somehow impressive to stay on the broken bridge, which was bombed accidentally by the Americans during the Korean War (1950-1953), and have a look to the North Korean shore.

Later in the afternoon we visited Dangdong SLT Garment Industry Company Limited, which is located in the greater area of Dangdong. The company manufactures clothes for different wholesalers as for example the Charles Voegele Group. Ms. Renee Tao, sale director of Dangdong SLT Garment Industry Company Limited was very kind to show us around the factory and answering all our questions.

Sewers in the Garment Factory
Sewers in the Garment Factory

It was interesting to see how a bunch of workers produces clothes, we daily use. It takes 600 workers to produce around 200 jackets a day. The employees work 10 hours a day and 6 days a week for a salary of 1000 to 1200 RMB (≈175 CHF) a month. This working conditions are considered as good in the region. Due to a heavy demand, the company will expand its production capacity within the next month (staff increase +66%).

On the way back to Dalian, we had a tasty dinner. Everybody was happy to be back in Dalian after long hours in the bus.


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