While tensions mount on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's border region with China remains calm as Pyongyang prepares to celebrate its most important holiday, Chinese traders said Thursday.

Chinese businessmen just across the border from North Korea's Sinuiju city in Dandong said the North is buying a lot of fertilizer in preparation for spring planting.

"Judging by the volume and the materials going into the country, it does not seem like war is imminent," a local trader said.

Chinese observers said that early this morning there were 50 heavily laden trucks waiting to be processed at Chinese customs, with an increase in various fruits such as apples and tangerines being seen going into North Korea.

They said the North customarily imports fruits and confectionary products that can be handed out as presents ahead of the "Day of the Sun," the birthday of late leader Kim Il-sung, which falls on April 15.

 The late Kim is the founder of North Korea and ruled it until his death in July 1994. He was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il.

The communist country is currently being ruled by Kim Jong-un, who took the helm right after the death of his father in late 2011.

 Other Chinese merchants with ties across the border said that in mid March when Seoul and Washington were conducting the Key Resolve military exercise, North Korea seemed tense and there was a drop in businessmen entering the country, but now things have, on the whole, returned to normal.

He added that North Korean partners have generally been punctual about making deliveries, and there have been very few instances of them failing to meet obligations.

Chinese officials at the city said plans have been approved for a small business delegation to go to the North for the holiday.

Delegations have in the past always visited the country during Day of the Sun festivities, even though the country has stopped receiving Chinese tourists.

The report comes as Western media said earlier in the week that Pyongyang was calm and that people were going about their everyday business with no outward signs of concern.

Pyongyang has been ratcheting up tensions ever since it fired off a long-range rocket in December and tested its third nuclear device on Feb. 12, despite stern warning from the international community. It, moreover, has warned it will launch pre-emptive nuclear attacks against South Korean and the United States. (Yonhap News)