A Chinese paper reported that scores of Chinese living in areas adjacent to North Korea have been murdered by North Koreans who crossed the border illegally since the turn of the millennium.  

The Southern Weekly, a prominent weekly paper in Guangdong, quoted a source in its latest edition as saying that scores of murders have taken place since the year 2000, along the China-North Korea border that spans around one-thousand-300 kilometers. The paper said the number of plunders by North Koreans is also more than 100 during the period.  

The paper said security is becoming a more urgent issue for the border region, where it said young people have left for cities leaving behind old people.

The paper said the crimes in the region by North Koreans increased in particular after the international community strengthened the sanction on the North after its nuclear tests.

The Chinese weekly pointed out that the crimes by border-crossing North Korean soldiers show the North Korean military is suffering from a serious shortage of supplies, despite the North’s military-first policy.

On December 28, a North Korean army deserter allegedly killed four Chinese during a robbery in the border town of Nanping, Helong in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.