Mystery of the North Koreans who left Macau for Zhuhai ... where are they now?

A scandal in Macau led many North Koreans to relocate to Zhuhai, but a decade on, few seem to remain – and after the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, those who do have fallen silent

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A North Korean waitress at a restaurant in Dandong, China. North Korean restaurants overseas are a vital source of foreign money for Pyongyang. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:00am, 7 May 2017Updated: 11:04pm, 30 Jun 2017

Macau may once have been a nexus for the overseas North Korean community, but most North Koreans left the city following a scandal at Delta Asia bank in 2005 – when the US labelled the lender a “willing pawn” for Pyongyang to engage in corrupt financial activities – and moved to Zhuhai, a city in China’s southern Guangdong province just across the border from the Special Administrative Region.

Gongbei Port at the Zhuhai-Macau border. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

However, more than a decade on, very few seem to remain in Zhuhai – and sources say those who are still around became nigh-on invisible in the weeks surrounding the death of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Kim Jong-nam was assassinated in Kuala Lumpur in February in a killing widely thought to have been ordered by Pyongyang.

The Delta Asia Bank office in Macau. A scandal at the bank in 2005 led to many North Koreans leaving Macau for Zhuhai. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

One of the favourite spots for the community in Zhuhai was a North Korean restaurant in Hai Wan Court, a residential complex in Xiangzhou Jida district, 10 minutes’ drive from the Macau border.

The restaurant was known for high-quality – and expensive – food, with a typical meal costing 170 yuan (HK$190) per person, but the menu was not the only thing setting it apart.

The string of shops where the North Korean restaurant was previously located. It has since shut down. Photo: Xiaomei Chen