Tension at the China, Russia, and North Korea Tripoint
The simplest way to describe the relationship between China, Russia, and North Korea is complex. This relationship is reflected in the border: almost 1000 North Korean defectors try to escape through China or Russia every year, and yet both states have a policy to immediately deport any defectors back to North Korea for punishment. There is only a single bridge between Russia and North Korea, which doesn't even see traffic every day. Only authorized trains and vehicles may cross. Chinese tourists may travel to North Korea, but only to certain areas and under heavy surveillance.
During the 1800s, the Korean peninsula was controlled by the Qing Dynasty of China. The Russian-Chinese border was then established by the Convention of Peking in 1860 to be the Tumen river. Then in 1910, Imperial Japan took over the Korea until 1945. In 1951, the only bridge between Russia and North Korea was built. The Border between North Korea and Russia has not changed since then.
The modern China/North Korea border has largely been the same since the 15th century, running along the Tumen river in the east, then the Yalu river shortly after the Tumen ends.
Namjungsan, North Korea
This rural village in North Korea is representative of many similar villages in the country. The government in Pyongyang heavily censors photos and information about life inside North Korea, so most images we see are from the capital and have been authorized to be shared. This village is what the government doesn't want us to see. Chinese photographer Xiaolu Chu smuggled these images out of North Korea by hiding them in a secret folder in his camera. North Korean officials check cameras and phones for smuggled information upon leaving the country. Chu disclosed that Tumangang is much poorer than Pyongyang, with almost no modern architecture or infrastructure. Nothing is lit up at night except the photos in the town square of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Un, giving a very eerie feeling. Chu also noted that the children's school uniforms seemed of high quality, but everyone was very thin. This might indicate that a very high value is placed on education but not physical health.
Fangchuan National Scenic Area, China
This scenic area overlooking the China, Russia, North Korea border and the Tumen river is the only Chinese scenic area near the sea of Japan, a highly contested body of water. This spot allows tourists to view rare plants and animals (including Amur Leopards) and of course offers insight into North Korea. Tourists to this scenic area have to follow strict rules of no photography of the security cameras, border fences, and anything else that could be deemed sensitive. From the viewpoint you can view Tumangang and the Russia/North Korea Friendship Bridge.
Russia/North Korea "Friendship Bridge", Russia and North Korea
Although the North Korea/Russia border spans 11 miles along the Tumen river, this bridge is the only way to cross between the two. Constructed in the 1950s, it's primarily a railway bridge but vehicles can cross if they are driven by locals who are authorized to cross the bridge, such as tour guides. Tourists are very rarely granted permission to pass into North Korea, but it does happen (North Korea does not grant any visas to those holding South Korean or American passports). Goods passing between North Korea and Russia usually have to take a lengthy detour through China, with 23 automobile checkpoints along the way to check for any North Korean refugees/illegal immigrants. Trade between the two countries has been strained since the end of the Cold War, but prior to the fall of the USSR North Korea was heavily reliant on imported Russian goods, which made use of the bridge. In 2018, a second bridge was proposed, but nothing has been confirmed. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Russian diplomats and their families who had previously lived in Pyongyang used this bridge to escape back into Russia. They pushed a rail cart along the railroad from Namjungsan across the bridge into Khasan by hand.
Khasan, Russia
Khasan is a tiny town of 700 people that is the closest Russian settlement to the NK border. Many buildings in the town are dilapidated due to the battle of Lake Khasan fought in 1938 between Imperial Japan and the USSR. Residents of Khasan live much different lives than their counterparts across the Tumen river. Al-Jazeera English interviewed attendees of a wedding party in 2013 to ask what living so close to North Korea was like. They expressed relatively little concern but noted that they could hear nuclear testing and missiles going off occasionally. Since the Friendship Bridge is the only way to cross between the two states and is seldom used, residents of each country are mostly unaware of what goes on across the border. At night, no lights are to be seen on the North Korean side.
Tumen, China
About 80 miles northwest of the tripoint is Tumen, China of the Jilin province. Of the city's small population of 130,000, over half are of Korean descent. Tumen is one of many Chinese border cities with a high percentage of ethnic Koreans living there. With so much of the city speaking Korean, it's easier for North Korean refugees to blend here than it is anywhere in Russia. Many North Korean refugees are sold into human trafficking in China because of their inability to find legal work or to speak Chinese. Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector who fled into China with her mother across the Tumen river. Both mother and daughter fell victim to human trafficking but a few years later made it hundreds of miles across China and across the Gobi desert to Mongolia, where they were sent to safety in South Korea. Yeonmi is now a famous human rights activist living in the United States.
In summation, there's not too many people living on the tripoint today, but how these few people interact is very important in International Politics. Which side of a small river you were born on can determine what language you speak, how much food you have to eat, and how much autonomy you have. Those living in Tumen, China; Namjungsan, North Korea; or Khasan, Russia live very opposing lifestyles. For many people in the world, a border might not mean much for the way they live their life, but for these people it represents a hard ideological separation.