![]() ![]() World & Nation Some escapees pay bribes, cross rivers, risk lives to return to Kim Jong Un’s North Korea The World Health Organization said in October that the North had started receiving shipments of medical supplies transported by sea from China through its port of Nampo. South Korean officials have said that the North established disinfection zones in recent months at border towns and seaports. Pyongyang’s leadership knows that a major COVID-19 outbreak would be devastating because of North Korea’s poor healthcare system and may even fan social unrest when combined with its chronic food shortage, experts say. While North Korea has so far claimed zero coronavirus infections, it also calls its anti-virus campaign a matter of “national existence.” It has severely restricted cross-border traffic and trade, banned tourists and kicked out diplomats, and is even believed to have ordered troops to shoot on sight any trespassers. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaches 10 years in powerįollowing two years of extreme isolation and economic decay, Pyongyang’s leadership is looking for more sustainable ways to deal with a pandemic that could last years. World & Nation A decade later, North Korea under Kim Jong Un is even more isolated and oppressed Some South Korean media have speculated that the North may have temporarily reopened the railroad between Sinuiju and China’s Dandong just to receive food and essential goods meant as gifts for its people during important holidays, including the 80th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un’s father’s birth next month, and the 110th anniversary in April of the birth of his grandfather, who founded North Korea. ![]() But South Korean officials say it isn’t immediately clear whether the North is fully reopening land trade with China, which is a major economic lifeline. The airfield is believed to have been converted to disinfect imported supplies, which may include food and medicine.Ĭhina’s Foreign Ministry has said trade between the border towns will be maintained while pandemic controls stay in place. World & Nation How bad is the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea? Here’s what we knowĪfter insisting for months that it has had no coronavirus infections, North Korea has come its closest to admitting that that might not be the case.Ĭommercial satellite images indicate that the first North Korean freight train that crossed the Yalu River last week then returned from China and unloaded cargo at an airfield in the border town of Uiju, according to the North Korea-focused 38 North website. The apparently mixed message - opening the border, slightly, on one hand, while also militarily pressuring Washington over a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations - likely signals a realization that the pandemic has worsened an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles. But it comes as Pyongyang has staged several weapons tests, the latest being two suspected ballistic missiles Thursday, and issued a veiled threat about resuming tests of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the U.S. The North’s tentative reopening is being seen in the apparent resumption of North Korean freight train traffic into neighboring China. The move could reflect a growing sense of recognition by the leadership that the nation badly needs to win outside economic relief. After spending two years under strict lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea may finally be opening up - slowly. ![]()
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