North Korea apparently wishes to bring food and other goods in short supply into the country from China by strengthening border trade with its neighbour.

Pyongyang's move to beef up trade with China in this way can also be seen as an attempt to pressurise South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's administration, which is reviewing the country's conciliatory stance toward North Korea, the sources said.

Wi Hwa Island, which is part of the North Korean city of Sinuiju, is about 15.5 sqkm in size. According to the sources, Pyongyang plans to set up trade exhibition facilities on the island and to allow Chinese to visit the island without visas. On the island, Chinese will be able to freely buy and sell daily necessities, food and other goods.

The plan is modelled on a Chinese free-trade zone in Heihe, Heilongjiang Province, near the border with Russia. In the zone, Russians are allowed to enter China without visas to expand border trade.

As Jo-chung Uuigyo, or the China-North Korea Friendship Bridge that connects China's Dandong and Sinuiju, has deteriorated, China plans to build a new bridge downstream.

But Pyongyang is insisting that the bridge be located further upstream from the current bridge and closer to Wi Hwa Island.

The sources said Pyongyang's aim is to improve transportation in the area around the island by locating the new bridge closer to it.

Wi Hwa Island is located inside a special economic zone that North Korea proudly launched in 2002 to open itself up to the rest of the world. But the zone ultimately flopped.

The latest free trade zone plan can be seen an extension of the previous one.

"The zone will only cover Wi Hwa Island, which will be much easier to control, and only Chinese will be allowed to freely visit," one of the sources said. "The plan solely aims at expanding trade with China. North Korea isn't planning any measures that would involve a dramatic opening up."

According to Chinese statistics, the total value of trade between China and North Korea from January to October last year hit US$2.12 billion, up 31.7 per cent from a year earlier.

Late last year, North Korea opened in Dandong a branch office of its consulate general in Shenyang to stimulate border trade with China. Recently, North Korea expelled South Korean personnel from the Kaesong industrial complex, which had been a symbol of North-South cooperation.