North Korea ramps up border restrictions amid COVID-19 pandemic

Pyongyang: North Korea has enforced stricter control measures at state borders in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The country has stepped up virus control measures along the inter-Korean border and at sea, Yonhap News citing state media reported on Sunday.

North Korea has maintained a free-coronavirus territory. Despite that, the country is taking strong measures in coastal areas to prevent the inflow of the coronavirus.

The communist country is “firmly establishing a blockade wall in the areas near the border and the Military Demarcation Line and asking workers and residents to keep established system of action and immediately gain control of and respond to even the slightest abnormal situations,” Yonhap News quoted the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

According to the Korean central broadcasting station, the country is building a “blockade wall” deep inside the border area and near the Military Demarcation Line.

“We are strengthening our self-defensive security system and military reporting system, we are responding strongly to allow no room for the transmission of the virus through sea garbage,” it said.

“In the areas adjacent to the Tumen River, Yalu River, Yesong River, and the Imjin River, we are getting fish farms that use the river waters to thoroughly follow the national anti-epidemic measures,” it added.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told the parliamentary intelligence committee on Friday that North Korea is taking measures that “go against common sense” to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Yonhap further reported.