Rich Merchants Exempt from Ebola Quarantine

Contrary to its October 24th Ebola
prevention edict mandating 21-day quarantines for all foreigners entering the
country, North Korea has been opening its doors to wealthy Chinese traders to
secure more investment, the Daily NK has learned.

Recently Ive
heard North Korea say it won
t isolate traders who have
a lot of money,
a source in China told the Daily NK on
Wednesday.
If people receive health certificates from
China and agree to be tested for Ebola in the North, it claims they are exempt
from the isolation process.

Shortly after Pyongyangs unilateral announcement of plans to implement the quarantine and
testing on all foreigners entering the country, Chinese traders who profit on
urgent business transactions said,
Who would want to
be cooped up for so long?
  

Facing these conditions, and desperate to
encourage investment, Pyongyang has slowly been relaxing the measures it put in
place to prevent the Ebola virus from entering the country, according to the
source.

Some people, who didnt like the idea of being quarantined and tested before, have shown
interest now,
the source went on, quick to note that many
still harbor concerns about the North going back on its word.

These concerns stem from merchants caught
in the country during the quarantine declaration and forced to pay their hotel
lodging and testing costs
. Some suspect the latest move may be another scam
tactic to procure hard currency.

Despite the limited opening of its borders, Ebola
prevention is still a high priority for the North.
The
head of a Chinese trade company recently came back from North Korea, and said
he was told to come without an assistant and driver,

he said.
Once he got there, the North provided him
with a car and driver after testing him again, giving him the impression that
efforts are still very much in place to prevent Ebola from getting in and
spreading.

The source pointed out that Pyongyang seems
to simply be banning companies with less capital, and therefore deemed less
economically valuable to the state.

If theyre not big
companies, most people have seemingly just accepted they won
t be going to the North for the time being,
the source explained, adding that human exchanges in areas like fisheries and
clothing, operated by small and medium-sized companies on the border, have
mostly come to a halt.

Theres not even news of state
enterprise heads coming from North Korea to China,
he
pointed out.
With this ongoing, peoples perceptions about trade with the North are deteriorating by the
day.