A Chinese diplomatic delegation scheduled to participate in the Party Foundation Day celebrations on Oct. 10 will be allowed to enter North Korea without going through regular quarantine procedures, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Korea told Daily NK yesterday on condition of anonymity that North Korea’s foreign ministry plans to simply check the temperatures of the delegation’s members and have them under go a simple “respiratory treatment” before sending them along to Pyongyang.
“Even the highest representatives of other countries have to go through quarantine procedures when they visit other countries or return home, so these plans are exceptionally unusual,” the source said. “Allowing [the delegation] to be exempted from quarantine procedures can be understood, perhaps, as the leadership’s way of showing they are looking forward to the delegation’s visit to the country.”
North Korean authorities have reportedly shied away from inviting many foreign dignitaries to the events planned for Oct. 10, presumably as part of efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 into the country.
North Korea’s leadership has, nonetheless, requested high-ranking officials from long-standing allies Russia and China to take part in the celebrations and has reportedly ordered that Russian and Chinese officials be placed in the same seating area as the highest echelon of the country’s leadership to show them the highest degree of respect.
North Korean authorities sent out invitations for the Party Foundation Day celebration to foreign emissaries in Pyongyang earlier this month. A high-ranking official from North Korea’s foreign ministry was sent to the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang on Oct. 3 to hand over the invitation, according to the source.
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