After two years of strict Covid-induced lockdown, North Korea slowly reopens border
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
After spending two years in a strict lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea may finally be opening up slowly. The reason could reflect a growing sense of recognition by the leadership that the nation badly needs to win outside economic relief.The North's tentative reopening is seen in the apparent resumption of North Korean freight train traffic into neighbouring China. But it comes even as Pyongyang has staged several weapons tests, the latest being two suspected ballistic missiles on Thursday, and issued a veiled threat about resuming tests of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland. “North Korea could end up being the planet's last battlefield in the war against COVID-19. Even the poorest countries in Africa have received outside aid and vaccines or acquired immunity through infection, but North Korea is the only country in the world without a real plan,” said analyst Lim Soo-ho at Seoul's Institute of National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea's main spy agency. Some South Korean media have speculated North Korea may have temporarily reopened the railroad between Sinuiju and China's Dandong just to receive food and essential goods meant as gifts for its people during important holidays, including the 80th birth anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un's father next month, and the 110th birth anniversary in April of his grandfather who founded North Korea. Following two years of extreme isolation and economic decay, Pyongyang's leadership is looking for more sustainable ways to deal with a pandemic that could last years. While North Korea has so far claimed zero virus infections, it also calls its antivirus campaign a matter of ‘national existence.’