{"id":5818,"date":"2022-05-16T09:35:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T00:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=5818"},"modified":"2022-05-26T13:39:46","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T04:39:46","slug":"covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2022\/05\/society-economy\/covid\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e A report about the COVID-19 situation from a party member in North Hamgyung Province: Those with fevers are placed in isolation and their apartment buildings are put under lockdown, People continue to go to work and the markets remain open, People are more scared of lockdowns than the disease"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Photo) People mobilized to work on a dyke on the Yalu River in North Pyongan Province. All of them are wearing masks and most are working by hand due to the lack of equipment and fuel in the country. This photo was taken in mid-July 2021 from the Chinese side of the River. ASIAPRESS<\/p><\/div>\n

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On May 13, the day after North Korean authorities officially acknowledged an outbreak of COVID-19, ASIAPRESS received reports from several reporting partners living in North Hamgyung Province, in the northern part of the country. One of the interviews has been published below. It appears that many people are concerned more about lockdowns and quarantines than the coronavirus itself. (KANG Ji-won, ISHIMARU Jiro<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u201cA\u201d has long provided ASIAPRESS with information from inside North Korea and is a party member who works at a mid-sized company. Kim Jong-un called the outbreak a \u201csevere national emergency\u201d during an expanded meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers\u2019 Party of Korea on May 12. ASIAPRESS asked \u201cA\u201d whether any disease control measures had been put in place where he lives.<\/p>\n

\u25c6 Still no ban on movement<\/h2>\n

\u2015\u2015 Kim Jong-un has ordered a lockdown of all the country\u2019s provinces, cities and counties. Are the cities being locked down?<\/strong>
\nA\uff1a <\/strong> All quarantine checkpoints on the boundaries between provinces, cities and towns have been beefed up with new personnel as part of efforts to control movement.<\/p>\n

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\u2015\u2015 Is it impossible to go outside because of city lockdowns?<\/strong>
\nA\uff1a <\/strong> There are no bans on going outside. However, we\u2019ve been ordered to double mask. People are going to factories and to their places of work as normal. The authorities don\u2019t want work to be disrupted. People get fever checks when they go to and from work.<\/p>\n

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\u2015\u2015 Are markets still open?<\/strong>
\nA\uff1a <\/strong> Yes. People have been ordered not to take off their masks and to avoid conversations with others.<\/p>\n

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\u2015\u2015 Are people free to leave their homes?<\/strong>
\nA\uff1a <\/strong> There are temperature checks being conducted at the entrances to all apartments. Anyone with suspicious symptoms such as fevers are isolated and the area in which they live is locked down. It is prohibited to accept visitors in your apartment. The authorities have put people on notice that hiding sicknesses or rejecting testing will result in punishment.
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\u25c6 A halt in mobilizations to rural areas<\/h2>\n

\u2015\u2015 People must be concerned about the lack of daily necessities and skyrocketing commodity prices.<\/strong>
\nA\uff1a <\/strong> Everyone expects prices to rise, but the authorities are keeping watch to ensure merchants don\u2019t increase their prices. Sellers are trying to keep their goods off the market in the hope prices will rise.<\/p>\n

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\u2015\u2015 What has happened to the mobilizations of people to agricultural areas, which began some time ago?<\/strong>
\nA\uff1a <\/strong> All the mobilizations to rural areas have been halted.<\/p>\n

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\u2015\u2015 People must be worried about the spread of COVID-19.<\/strong>
\nA\uff1a <\/strong> Some people die while others live once they get COVID-19. What\u2019s scarier than the disease are lockdowns and government controls. People are worried about how to survive.<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.<\/p>\n

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\uff1cRelated Article\uff1e<\/div>\n