North Korea’s already tenuous economic lifelines to the outside world are now nearly severed as it seals its borders with China and Russia to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus.
Already one of the most closed-off nations in the world, North Korea has stopped flights and train services with its neighbors, established weeks-long mandatory quarantines for foreigners, suspended international tourism and imposed a near-complete lockdown on cross-border travel.
The shutdowns could hurt North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s efforts to make good on his promise to jump-start the economy. Those efforts have been undermined by a lack of progress in denuclearization talks with the US, which has led the way in imposing international sanctions on Pyongyang.
Photo: AP
“They’re keeping the cargo out and they’re keeping the Chinese out; nobody can go in or out,” a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation at the China-North Korea border said.
Kang Mi-jin, a North Korean defector in Seoul who reports for the Daily NK Web site, confirmed that the border appears to have been almost entirely shut down since at least Thursday last week.
“The [North Korean] Ministry of People’s Armed Forces ordered all guard posts to bar smuggling as well,” she said. “People, freight, nothing can come in or go out.”
Pyongyang has reportedly asked Beijing not to repatriate North Korean defectors detained in China, said a South Korean pastor who works with refugees.
North Koreans who work in restaurants and elsewhere in China, contravening UN sanctions, are in “virtual captivity” in their homes under instructions from the authorities in Pyongyang, the border source said.
North Korea is typically adept at implementing public health interventions, and acted “swiftly and decisively” to try to stop the coronavirus from entering the nation, but sanctions restrictions could make it difficult to get medical supplies, said Harvard Medical School’s Park Kee, who has worked on healthcare projects in the nation.
“Their actions, very costly in terms of revenue from tourists and trade, as well as administratively for quarantining people, reflect their concerns regarding their health system’s capacity to handle an outbreak,” Park said.
The efforts — which appear to have been successful in preventing any cases in North Korea so far — mean Pyongyang has severed or drastically restricted the economic ties it relies on.
“There could be a huge impact, not just on the North’s market economy, but also on the entire economy of the country,” Kang said. “North Korea promotes localization, but even for products — candies, crackers or clothing — manufactured in the country, the raw materials come from China.”
Upcoming North Korean political holidays, which usually include gifts of sweets and crackers for children, could be less festive than usual if the nation’s supplies of sugar, flour and other ingredients are scarce, she said.
There are already signs that prevention measures could lead to the cancelation of military parades and other mass celebrations at least until the end of this month, which include a commemoration of the army and former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s birthday.
The extent of the economic risk to North Korea largely depends on the duration of the lockdown and how sweeping the restrictions are, said Artyom Lukin, deputy director for research at Far Eastern Federal University’s School of Regional and International Studies in Vladivostok, Russia.
“If the lockdown continues for several months and longer, this will certainly have a considerable negative impact on North Korea,” Lukin said.
There are no official numbers on the size of North Korea’s economy, but the Bank of Korea in Seoul estimates that in 2018 the nation’s economy shrank for a second straight year, while its international trade fell 48.4 percent.
The crisis could weaken North Korea’s position in its standoff with the US over denuclearization talks, and could lead Pyongyang to try to offset its greater economic vulnerability by making provocative moves, such as resuming long-range missile launches or nuclear tests, Lukin said.
“If the coronavirus situation is not resolved quickly, it is going to make life much more difficult for North Korea in 2020,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of