A recent and noticeable spike in people suffering from fevers and respiratory distress in North Korean regions bordering China has prompted the authorities to bolster quarantine measures and tighten restrictions on local residents, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, Daily NK sources in North Pyongan Province and Chagang Province told Daily NK on Friday that the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters ordered an intensification of quarantine measures from Aug. 1. The agency cited mounting numbers of suspected cases of seasonal flu, including cases of fever, in certain border regions such as Yomju, Cholsan, Uiju, Ryongchon and Sakju counties in North Pyongan Province and Chasong, Chunggang, Manpo and Wiwon counties in Chagang Province.
North Korea reintroduced mask mandates and shortened market operating hours in the last week of July for the Victory Day holiday on July 27. Afterwards, the government announced and then implemented even stronger quarantine restrictions, according to the sources.
In fact, North Korea has ordered home quarantines for entire households if one person falls sick with fever, banning movement outside one’s city or county of residence. The government has also ordered temporary quarantine checkpoints to be installed streetside to regularly inspect compliance with the mask mandate and conduct temperature checks.
However, many people are expressing displeasure with the intensified quarantine regime.
Most residents of border regions make their money from trade with China, while others generate income by farming small private plots.
“Crops go bad if farmers fail to weed their plots on time. The government is forcing people to wear masks and quarantine at home when they are busy weeding their fields, so people think the measures are just tying them up,” one of the sources said. “Some people even say that the government is essentially telling them to drop dead.”
North Korean authorities have not called their intensified quarantine protocols a “lockdown,” but many believe the new protocols are the same as a lockdown and are expressing their displeasure accordingly, he said.
Faced with this growing discontent, the authorities in some regions shortened the intensified quarantine period from the initial seven to 10 days to five to seven days.
Less intense quarantine protocols in Pyongyang
Meanwhile, in Pyongyang, there were no signs that the authorities were bolstering quarantine protocols even after the Victory Day events.
A source in the city told Daily NK that city authorities shortened market hours in certain regions around the time of the Victory Day celebrations, including in Taedonggang, Moranbong and Junggu districts, where Workers’ Party offices and foreign embassies are located. The authorities also banned traffic around critical facilities. These measures continued through July 31, but no particular restrictions have been in place since the beginning of August.
In short, the intensity of quarantine protocols differ between Pyongyang and areas outside the capital city, and the China-North Korea border region in particular.
As a result, some people are criticizing the intensified quarantine measures as a “means for the government to restrict smuggling by people in the border region,” one of the sources said.
“Pyongyang sees people coming and going from other countries and from China as well, so it doesn’t make sense that fever cases are just in provincial areas. Saying [the intensified quarantine protocols] are because of the flu is just an excuse. It’s all aimed at preventing people from smuggling.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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