Built Environment and Development Studies

Built Environment and Development Studies

Description of the Area

The area selected for the purpose of this assignment is Tumen River Area. The Tumen or Tuman River (Tumannaya) is a 521 km-long river that serves as part of the boundary between China, North Korea, and Russia, rising in Mount Baekdu and flowing into the Sea of Japan (East Sea). The river flows in northeast Asia, on the border between China and North Korea in its upper reaches, and between North Korea and Russia in its last 17 kilometres (11 miles) before entering the Sea of Japan. The river forms much of the southern border of Jilin Province in Manchuria and the northern borders of North Korea's North Hamgyong and Yanggang provinces. Baekdu Mountain on the Chinese-North Korean border is the source of the river,[1] as well as of the Yalu River.

The Tumen has been used for years by North Korean refugees defecting across the Chinese border. Most refugees from North Korea during the 1990s famine crossed over the Tumen River, and most recent refugees have also used it.

Although the Tumen is heavily patrolled by armed guards of the DPRK, the river is considered the preferred way to cross into China because, unlike the swift and deep Yalu River which runs along most of the border between the two countries, the Tumen is shallow and narrow. "It is easily crossed in spots on foot or by swimming," according to a 2006 article in The New York Times. Defectors who wish to cross the Tumen often ignore its pollutants and dangerous border patrol, and spend weeks if not months or years waiting for the perfect opportunity to cross.

Refugees seldom cross the Tumen into Russia as its government patrols its short stretch of the river more actively than China does its, and the refugees have no large ethnic Korean community in which to hide (see also North Koreans in Russia).

History of Development

The Tumen Programme has reached an important stage of development and the member Governments have decided to revitalize and re-brand it as the Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) in order to serve better the common goals. The member Governments will take full ownership of the GTI supported by development partners such as UNDP, donor countries and international financing institutions. Further success of the GTI will require (a) the political will of member states to create a growth pole for North-East Asia in the region, (b) realistic policy formulation by the Consultative Commission and (c) dynamic and imaginative follow-up action by the Tumen Secretariat.

The Strategic Action Plan follows the directives of the 2004 Meeting of the Consultative Commission and the recommendations of the 2005 Meeting of the Consultative Commission, and is aimed at making the GTI more useful, practical, country driven and result oriented. It is focusing on the priority areas of transport, tourism, energy and investment with environment as a cross-cutting sector. Resources will be shifted to the implementation of concrete projects with practical value to the member Governments agreed by ...