Thousands of N.Koreans Under Monitoring for Coronavirus

Over 7,000 people are in "self-quarantine" and under close monitoring in North Korean provinces of North and South Pyongan and Kangwon in a situation where the regime is claiming that nobody has been infected with the new coronavirus.

The official Rodong Sinmun reported on Sunday, "Approximately 3,900 people, about 2,420 in South Pyongan and some 1,500 in Kangwon, are 'under medical monitoring.'"

On Feb. 24, the North Korean Central Television reported, "Some 3,000 people are 'under medical monitoring'" for coronavirus in the border province of North Pyongan.

State media did not clarify what they precisely meant by "those under medical monitoring." But their claim that "daily necessities have been delivered to those people" has fueled speculation that they are people in quarantine at their own homes or in separate places.

A researcher at a government-funded think tank here speculated, "Though it claimed that the North is free from coronavirus, the regime has now disclosed the number of those in quarantine in an apparent attempt to draw support from the international community because it has reached its limit in its own quarantine and disinfection efforts."