FWIW, my daughter just returned (last night) from seven weeks in China. She went on a U.S. Government sponsored group trip, where they took Chinese at a university and lived with a Chinese host family.
Here’s the amazing thing: staying in the dorms of the University (to which my daughter commuted every day by subway) was a group of forty or fifty SOUTH KOREAN students, and their teachers.
Think about that. My daughter saw them, talked to them, went on hikes with them, etc.
South Korean citizens in the People’s Republic of China. Right now, eyewitness testimony.
KDramas are very popular in China. The most popular of all was “Descendants of the Sun”, which was about members of the South Korean Army.
South Korea and Taiwan have had significant trade with Communist China for decades.
What's weird about that? They established diplomatic relations 25 years ago, and China is (by far) South Korea's top trading partner.
This is news?
I’m not getting what was unusual about those students. Did you mean to say North Korean instead? Even North Koreans are allowed into China, although I’ve never seen a group of NK students.
There’s a lot of trade and investment between the ROK (South Korea) and the PRC. China has far more real interest in keeping Seoul alive than Kim Jong-un or any member of his family. The next few weeks might be quite interesting.
Lots of folks on FR are oblivious to what has happened in China over the last 10 years. They are still living in the Cold War.
That is actually pretty common.
A good friend of mine used to travel to China right above the NORK border. The government didn’t like many South Koreans there, because they were afraid the NORKS would kidnap them.
He did see a lot of South Koreans a bit farther north. Lots of Russians too.
Why does that strike you as odd?
China and South Korea have been business partners for a long time.
The North Koreans are like the “country relatives” of the Far East. They come into town, and embarrass their hosts.