Despite all the negative changes at the end of the twentieth century, our country remains the largest in the world. And therefore, it has a large land and sea border. Moreover, as you know, the longest border of the country with a neighboring power is the state of Kazakhstan, which lies to the south. In addition, the Russian Federation is adjacent to eighteen countries. In the West, there is a restless border with the Baltic states and Ukraine, in Central (Central) Asia, with the former republics of the USSR, with which relations are still uncertain. A large border along rivers and mostly uninhabited open spaces exists with China. And finally, with the DPRK - little known for its tiny size and small significance. Nevertheless, the Russian-North Korean border is still listed on world maps, has its past and, probably, the future. More on this later.
general characteristics
The border between Russia and North Korea is not long, by geographical standards, it can be said to be tiny. In total, its distance is 39.4 km. Of these, 22.1 km runs along the Sea of Japan, and 17.3 km runs along the fairway of the river. Foggy. This border is the shortest of all existing Russian sections.
Sandy
Where is the border of North Korea and Russia? On the Russian side, the Hasan region is adjacent to the state border with North Korea. The basic frontier post of Russia is Sandy. Through the border river. Foggy (about 1 km from the Khasan station) at the time was built railway bridge of Friendship.
However, there is no special “friendship” between the countries. This is evidenced by at least the fact that automobile and pedestrian crossings between two neighboring states are virtually absent. And such a border between Russia and North Korea, the length of which is completely insignificant for the Russian Federation, clearly reduces the tension in relations between the two countries.
Koreans in Russia
During the turbulent events on the Korean peninsula, a relatively large number of Koreans crossed the Russian border, starting in the nineteenth century. The mighty migration river from Korea, first to the Russian Empire, then to the Soviet state flowed mainly from the 1860s to the 1930s, giving rise to the existence of the Korean stratum of more than five hundred thousand people. This situation was due to the growing lack of land, constantly recurring hungry years and weather disasters, and since 1910 - pressure from the Japanese military administration.
The Koreans played a major role in the formation of the agricultural sector in the Russian Far East, especially given the shortage of Russian peasants, given the urgent need to provide food to the Russian army, which periodically sought to drive back the next invaders. An important specificity of the Korean stratum was the massive adoption of new residents of Russian citizenship. Only Koreans were able to easily connect with the ethno-cultural national landscape of the population of the Russian Far East. In the future, this greatly helped North Korea. The border with Russia, the USSR, the presence of Soviet Koreans contributed to the successful resistance of the DPRK against the United States. All this played a political role.
Relief
Although the length of the border between Russia and North Korea is small, there are enough natural problems. The geographical relief of the border for the Russian (Soviet) side has always been unfavorable. Since the Korean river bank opposite is elevated and rocky, and the Russian one is flatter and lower, for centuries during the spring floods, the main channel of the border Tuman River is shifting towards Russia (the same phenomenon is also observed on the border with China along the Amur River), thereby reducing the total territory of our country and creating a rather dangerous flood threat in the village of Khasan and at the strategically important border outpost "Sandy". Since the summer season of 2003, regular work has been carried out in this area to fill the low places of the coast with local soil to protect it from spring water.
The history of the border until 1917
Russia, moving for several centuries towards the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of the nineteenth century came to Korea. There was a common border between Russia and Korea (North after the separation of the country in 1945). An official mutual cordon between the two countries was adopted in 1861. It almost immediately gained importance as a factor of strategic influence, since this section cut off China, which was strong at that time, from access to the coast of the Sea of Japan. Then, when almost all of the first half of the twentieth century, Japan occupied Korea, the Russian-Korean border almost became part of the Russian-Japanese border, and then, after the well-known events in our country in 1917, the Soviet-Japanese border.
Soviet period
Socialist transformations of the 1920-1930s touched on these places. The new government has never forgotten where the border is between Russia and Korea (the North at the present time). In order to efficiently develop the local natural resources of Soviet southern Primorye and defend its borders from Japanese aggressors at that time, the construction of a short railway line from Baranovsky to the town of Kraskino with a total length of 190 km began in 1938. The construction was completed, or rather discontinued, in connection with the outbreak of war, in 1941. After the victorious end of World War II and the defeat of Japan in 1945, the Baranovsky-Kraskino railway line was brought to the state border of the USSR with the DPRK, and its total length reached 238 km.
The final destination of the completed route was the Hassan railway station (the famous Hassan Lake is nearby). Hassan station began to operate during the Korean War (1950–1953), on September 28, 1951. Due to the turbulent events of those years on the Korean Peninsula, it did not long remain a dead end status: a temporary wooden bridge (later replaced by a permanent long-term) was built across the Tumannaya River, along the fairway of which the state border of the Russian Federation still runs), and at fifty the second year, the first Soviet working trains moved to Korea. At this time, our country had good relations with North Korea. The border with Russia (USSR) was, in the full sense of the word, the border of friendship.
The last Soviet treaty
Geography contributed to the continuation of diplomatic relations with North Korea. The border with Russia (the distance between the two states, although small, but significant) obliged to regulate contacts. Recent events on the border occurred at the end of the twentieth century. In 1990, the Soviet Union and the DPRK ratified the agreement on changing the state border line along the fairway of the border river Tumannaya, which is why the territory of the former Noktundo island with a total area of 32 square meters. km was officially declared Soviet. True, the treaty was not recognized by the second Korean state - South Korea, which continues to believe that Fr. Noktundo is still Korean.
Border Factor in War: Episode One
In no case can we downplay the importance of Russian relations with North Korea and the border with Russia (USSR). Interactions, quite forgotten in peacetime, increased dramatically with the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. Officially, the USSR did not participate in this war. In practice, North Korea owed much of its independence to the large, and completely free, military (equipment, weapons, spare parts), economic (food, equipment) and political (DPRK support on the world stage) aid received from the Soviet Union. According to the agreement signed back in 1949 between JV Stalin and Kim Il Sung, the USSR undertook to transfer military equipment, food and so on to maintain the defensive state of North Korea. in the amount of about 200 million rubles (in reality it turned out to be much more) for three years - from 1949 to 1952. By the end of 1949, 15 thousand rifles of various systems, 139 artillery pieces, 94 aircraft, a large number of various spare parts for them and 37 Soviet T-34 tanks were exported from our country to North Korea.
USSR help
With the deteriorating situation in Korea, the Soviet Union in September 1950 - April 1953 concentrated in the northern areas of the DPRK close to the Soviet border, several dozen armored vehicles along with service personnel, as well as several types of small arms.
In total, in the undeclared war for the USSR, according to official data of the USSR Ministry of Defense for 1954, about 40 thousand soldiers and officers participated.
All this property and the vast majority of people were transported by rail. Some (mainly military personnel) crossed the border on their own or flew over (on airplanes). The Soviet-North Korean border has never been so busy, and its transport arteries have not worked so actively.
Border aviation umbrella
Since the outbreak of the Korean War, relations with North Korea have grown in importance. The border with Russia was without air cover. Immediately revealed the advantage of US aviation in the air. Neither in China, nor even more so in the DPRK had military aviation as a branch of service. Therefore, already in the first month of the war, from mid-July 1950, the USSR sent numerous parts of fighter aircraft to the regions of China located near the DPRK. At first, the 151st fighter division of the Red Army Air Force appeared there. Along with retraining local Chinese pilots for new, more efficient MiG-15 fighters, she begins, with the support of anti-aircraft artillery air defense, to conduct army exercises in part of China, located near the border with the DPRK.
In early October 1950, with the expansion of the actions of Soviet pilots already over the territory of the DPRK, it was decided to create a separate fighter air corps.
According to modern data, during the period of this war, Soviet pilots shot down 1, 097 enemy planes, losing 319 Soviet planes and 110 pilots. 212 enemy aircraft were destroyed by the North Korean army anti-aircraft artillery, mainly Soviet deliveries.
In fact, an aviation umbrella was needed on both sides - both over the territory of the DPRK and over the territory of China. A certain danger loomed over the territory of the USSR.
