North Hamgyong Province authorities recently carried out unannounced quarantine inspections of almost a dozen workplaces in the province, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the central government recently ordered provinces to report quarantine status data for January, “emphasizing that even in the New Year, emergency quarantine activities are a top priority.”
“North Hamgyong Province’s Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters responded by quietly descending on lower-ranked workplaces and carrying out surprise quarantine inspections,” he said.
According to the source, North Hamgyong Province’s Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters selected 10 local workplaces to raid, carrying out detailed inspections to check whether their quarantine administrators are keeping daily records and if they have the proper items and tools needed for emergency quarantine activities.
The source said the inspection revealed that the workplaces were generally lax in their emergency quarantine efforts, with almost none engaged in proper quarantine activities.
“They revealed that interest in emergency quarantine efforts had slackened in not only Chongjin and Kimchaek, but also in cities and counties along the China-North Korea border,” he said.
North Hamgyong Province’s Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters ultimately slapped fines on the workplaces found to have had problems.
The source said the headquarters sent notifications about the fines to the financial departments of the agencies and enterprises in question, and made administrative officials write self-criticism letters.
“According to the notifications, the fines ranged from KPW 100,000 to KPW 1.2 million, and seven out of 10 workplaces received fines of KPW 1 million or over,” he said.
The latest inspection ended in mere fines or self-criticism letters, but North Hamgyong Province’s Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters warned the workplaces that if their lackadaisical quarantine efforts continue into February, it will refer the heads of the wayward workplaces to prosecutors.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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