As in China, life in Pyongyang is slowing down. Closed borders, restricted movement, confined foreigners ... North Korea has also taken drastic measures in the face of the coronavirus epidemic, which began at the end of 2019 in Asia, and which has since left more than 80,000 patients and 2,700 dead in the world.
"North Korea realized the danger of the epidemic and had an extremely rapid reaction from the start," recounts Juliette Morillot, author of "Mijin, confessions of a North Korean Catholic" with Dorian Malovic (Ed. Bayard ). "From January, at the first alerts, it closed its borders completely," she recalls. The country has not yet officially declared any case of coronavirus on its territory.
For more than a month, foreign tourists have no longer been able to set foot on North Korean soil. Air and rail links are suspended and those suspected of carrying the virus have been quarantined for 30 days, as have the 380 foreigners present, according to local press.
In the midst of the Ebola epidemic in 2014, North Korea had already closed its borders for several months. No case had yet been detected in Asia. Twelve years earlier, for the SARS epidemic which had left 650 dead in China and Hong Kong, Pyongyang had prohibited all entry of travelers for six months.
Hands and door handles cleaned
For citizens, the instructions of the Workers' Party, which runs the country with an iron fist, are strict: public gatherings, meals with family or in restaurants are prohibited, reports Rodong Sinmun, the state newspaper. The Department of Machine and Industry recommends that door handles be cleaned "three times a day" and that employees be instructed to wash their hands each time the computer keyboard is used.
“We encourage people to wear masks and all the factories are working to make them. The TV news gives instructions on how to wear the masks or on the right type of mask to choose, "says Juliette Morillot. "Except that these are locally produced masks, seen from the outside, we do not really know what their quality is," she said.
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VIDEO. Coronavirus: South Koreans flock to health masks
With its Chinese border, where there are many “licit or illicit” economic exchanges, the risks of contamination are significant, notes Antoine Bondaz, director of the Korea program at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) and teacher at Sciences- in. "There have been cases of coronavirus in the neighboring regions of China," he added.
Something to worry the authorities of leader Kim Jong-Un. Especially since the country's infrastructure, which often lacks water, electricity and medicines, would find it difficult to cope with a serious health crisis. According to the Red Cross, "the possibility of a Covid-19 epidemic in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea poses a threat to millions of people who are already in need of humanitarian assistance".
Limited information
"But, compared to countries with the same level of development, as in Africa, the system can better cope with an equivalent level of risk," said Antoine Bondaz. The centralization of institutions, travel restrictions and constant communications from the regime all the same could stem the phenomenon.
Only problem: for North Koreans, and internationally, it is complicated to know the true extent of the epidemic. Officially, therefore, the country says it has not detected any cases of coronavirus. But, as Juliette Morillot notes, “in South Korea, you have defectors who can communicate with North Korea via cell phones on the Chinese network. They testify in some newspapers in the South and say that there are cases of coronavirus in several places ”…
"What is happening outside Pyongyang - even inside it, by the way - is very difficult to know. There could very well be isolated cases without us being aware, ”confirms Antoine Bondaz. On Wednesday, the UN also allowed humanitarian associations to transport medical equipment to North Korea. In its suitcases, the Red Cross has in particular planned to bring masks, gloves, and screening kits.
"For the United Nations to authorize the lifting of the sanitary and humanitarian sanctions, it is because there is probably a reality on the ground that is more important than the country means," said judge Juliette Morillot.
