Executions and confined capital. How North Korea controls covid-19



[ad_1]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of at least two people, banned sea fishing and confined the city of Pyongyang as part of measures against Covid-19 and the economic effects of the pandemic.

Information about North Korea is released by South Korean intelligence services, adding that leader Kim Jong-un has also ordered Pyongyang diplomats not to harass the elected US president because they expect a new kind of rapprochement. with the Joe Biden administration in the future.

The new information was passed on to South Korean lawmakers in Seoul who received the latest report from South Korea’s national intelligence services.

According to South Korean lawmaker Ha Tae-keung, who cites the intelligence services, Kim Jong-un currently demonstrates “excessive hatred” and apply “irrational measures” addressing the SARS CoV-2 pandemic and the impacts on the country’s economy.

According to the report cited by Ha Tae-keung, the North Korean leader had a senior official in charge of the foreign exchange department executed in October after being detained due to falling exchange rates.

The same document indicates that another senior Pyongyang regime official was executed in August for violating conservation measures for imported goods.

The two executed people were not identified in the report.

North Korea has also banned fishing and salt production to “prevent seawater from being contaminated with the novel coronavirus,” South Korea’s intelligence services say.

North Korea has also confined the city of Pyongyang, the capital, and the northern province of Jagang, as measures against the pandemic.

Other containment measures have been applied where authorities found imported goods and foreign currency.

Other information indicates that Pyongyang has carried out acts of hacking against at least one South Korean pharmacist who is developing a vaccine against the new coronavirus.

Part of the information is still confirmed by the Seoul intelligence services.

North Korea claims that not a single case of covid-19 infection has been detected across the country, information disputed by international experts.

The effects of the global epidemic in North Korea can be catastrophic because the country’s health system is extremely understaffed and has no medical and health supplies.

The pandemic has forced North Korea to close its borders with the People’s Republic of China, its largest trade and political partner.

The closure of the borders since January has seriously affected the country’s economy marked by the sanctions imposed by the United States.

The trade balance with the People’s Republic of China amounted to $ 530 million in the last 10 months, a figure that corresponds to just 25% of the total recorded in 2019.

According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, North Korea has ordered overseas embassies not to provoke the United States by threatening ambassadors.

North Korean officials are silent on the election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.

Kim Jong-un held three summits with Donald Trump between 2018 and 2019 on the North Korean nuclear arsenal, easing the tone of political statements between the two sides.

Even so, according to the report, friendly relations with Trump are considered useless in the framework of the future Biden administration.

Experts have highlighted the possibility that North Korea will soon begin a period of ballistic testing with new missiles to get Joe Biden’s attention.

South Korea’s intelligence services also hope that North Korea will soon hold a military parade as part of next January’s one-party congress in a show of force at the same time as Biden’s inauguration as president. from the United States.

It is likely that the Workers’ Party Congress will be used to publicize new policies towards the United States.

Dictator Kim Jong-un said the congress, which is taking place for the first time in the past four years, will approve goals for the next five years.

In an unprecedented statement, the North Korean Workers’ Party said in August that the state’s economic goals had been severely delayed.

.

[ad_2]
Source link