North Korea: Pyongyang confined due to "respiratory disease"
South Koreans watch a television screen showing a report on the Covid-19 epidemic in North Korea, in a train station in Seoul, Saturday May 14, 2022 (illustration image).
AP - Ahn Young-joon
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
According to a specialized South Korean site, North Korea has ordered a five-day confinement in its capital Pyongyang due to a “
respiratory disease
”, without mentioning Covid-19.
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With our correspondent in Seoul,
Nicolas Rocca
While it has been three years this week since North Korea locked its borders to protect itself from the virus, Pyongyang is confined until Sunday.
In any case, this is what the note from the North Korean government, consulted by the specialized site NK News, confirms, and which confirms information from the day before according to which the inhabitants of the capital would have started storing provisions possible confinement as a cold snap from Siberia hits the country.
BREAKING: Pyongyang entered a 5-day lockdown due to “rising” illnesses across the city, NK News has confirmed.
Residents cannot leave their homes and must submit to regular body temperature checks.
FULL STORY: https://t.co/qbb3RMdmce
— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) January 25, 2023
The North Korean authorities have made no announcement, and for the moment it is impossible to know if other cities are concerned.
But according to the media, the inhabitants will have to submit to several temperature readings per day.
Last August,
North Korea announced that it had completely eradicated the virus
from its territory after declaring just under five million cases of “
fevers
”.
Vaccines?
This is the second time that North Korea has taken drastic health measures,
in May a general confinement to the whole country
lasted two weeks.
At the time, many workers in agriculture and construction in particular had nevertheless continued their activities.
Kim Jong-un had mentioned a possible vaccination of the population from November, probably with doses from China, nothing has come since to confirm the announcement.
But vaccinated or not, the inhabitants of Pyongyang, clearly privileged compared to the rest of the country, are far from being the most to be pitied.
Defectors, humanitarians and specialists are mainly concerned about the serious shortcomings of the health system outside the capital.
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