Jan
S. Krogh's Geosite: CNKPRU
– Markers no 1 and 2
Marker no 1
China
is, together with Russia, the country in the World which borders most
other nations – 14, namely Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos,
Myanmar, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.
According
to the Treaty Draft's Article 3: "As marker no. 1 will serve boundary marker no. 423 on the Russian-Chinese boundary, located on the left bank of the Tumannaja river, and has the following co-ordinates:
Lat. = 42°25'10,2" N. Long. = 130°38'17,7" E. .... The co-ordinates of the markers are established according to the Pyongyang co-ordinate system."
Since
we do not know how to convert the Pyongyang datum into WGS 84 datum we
have instead assumed that border marker no 423 must be situated very close
to marker no 422 which we know is located at the
southeastermost border control
post. During the Søsex 2011 Expedition we visited the location from
Russian side. Photos of marker 422 were taken from position 144 on this
image. We also observed reference marker no 3 at position "Mk
3". We can from this Google Earth image see there is a border vista
between the points "BM 422" and point "423/1?".
When we convert the Pyongyang datum ("Marker 1 pos") with 95,5 m in 67,5°
we get position "423/1?" which out from this image is likely to
be a border marker location.
In 1993, the eastern border between China and Russia,
was redrawn and it was set up a boundary marker no 423 135.6 m away from the
then last border marker with Russia and 511.9 meters from the DPRK Trade Bridge.
135,6
m seems to be a possible distance between CNRU bm 422 and bm 423.
View
from the borderline at CNRU border marker 422 down the visa towards border
marker 423. The border fence is the Chinese. In the background is the
North Korean - Friendship Bridge. The photo is taken on 12 Sep 2011.
According
to the Treaty Draft's Article 3, point 2: "Marker no. 1 consists of a four-sided granite marker on a concrete base. The side facing Russia bears the inscription in the Russian language "RF"; the side facing China bears the inscription in the Chinese language "China", above the name of the country the state coat-of-arms of the CPR has been fixed. Under the names of the countries, the number of the boundary marker "423" and the year of its establishment "1993" have been inscribed in Arabic numerals. On the other two sides of the marker there are no inscriptions."
On
this picture Chinese soldiers do maintenance works on the Chinese-Russian
border marker no 423 which at the same time is Reference marker no 1. We
see only the side which is faced towards China.
A
Chinese dog patrol is relaxing at the marker which is the last Chinese -
Russian border marker.
Marker no 2
The
calculated point for marker 2 viewed in Google Earth horizontal view from
the Chinese observation roof. The position "2?" is a converted
location (95,5 m in 67,5°) from the given Pyongyang datum in the Treaty
Draft's Article 3. Distance: 1134 m.
The
same area photographed from the Chinese observation roof. Notice the
shape of the hills. The supposed location of marker 2 is marked.
During the Søsex 2011 Expedition we had no possibility to visit the North
Korean side of the river in order to study this last marker.
C
Further
enlargenment of the same point. The supposed marker no 2 is just
right of the white pole. Notice also the blue-grey shed to the right.
According
to the Treaty Draft's Article 3, point 2: "Marker no. 2 consists of a three-sided granite marker on a concrete base. The side facing Russia bears the inscription in the Russian language "Russia", the side facing China bears the inscription in the Chinese language "China", the side facing Korea bears the inscription in the Korean language "Korea". Under the names of the countries, the number of the marker and the year of establishment are indicated in Arabic numerals."
This
means marker no 2 is identical to marker no 3,
except that it has another number.
The
calculated point for marker 2 viewed in Google Earth horizontal view from
a hill east of the Korean-Russian Friendship Bridge. Distance: 724 m.
The
same area photographed from the hill east of the bridge.
A
close-up shows the white pole watched from the Chinese side, but the
supposed marker no 2 is difficult to see, most likely due to vegetation or
that it is hidden by the pole. The blue-grey shed is now to the left
on the photo.
First time published on 12.10.11. This page was last time updated on 04.03.12
