|
 Residents said the warning came in a printed notice that Chinese
authorities in the area issued this week, the latest indication of
how seriously North Korea takes the threat of the virus.
Close allies China and North Korea share a 1,400-km (880-mile)
frontier that is especially porous in winter, when rivers separating
the countries freeze, allowing people to cross.
Residents of the Chinese cities of Jian and Baishan were warned that
people who get too close to the border might be shot, according to
three people who received the notice, which was reviewed by Reuters.
"We're told that we may get killed if we get too close to the border
area," said one restaurant owner in Jian, which is separated from
North Korea by the Yalu River, declining to be identified given the
sensitivity of the matter.
Residents are prohibited from fishing, grazing livestock or throwing
rubbish near the river, according to the notice issued this week.
North Korea asked China to tighten border controls to avoid its
citizens getting shot and killed as North Korea had raised its
coronavirus threat assessment to its highest level, it said.
"The public security organs will monitor the border 24 hours a day
and anyone found will face administrative detention" by Chinese
police, authorities said in the notice, which was seen by Reuters.
"Violators will be shot," it said, meaning by North Korean guards.
A Jian propaganda official, who declined to be identified, confirmed
by telephone that the city's border control office issued a similar
warning in a text message.
"During the epidemic prevention period, any activities including
fishing on the Yalu River or shouting to North Koreans across the
river are strictly prohibited," the office said in the message,
although it stopped short of warning of shots.
The official said the wording on such messages may have gone too far
in some areas. Reuters could not reach city officials in Baishan. It
was not clear if other cities issued such warnings.
China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
[to top of second column] |
ENTRY BANS
Isolated and impoverished North Korea has imposed strict entry bans
during past global epidemics, including a 2014 ebola outbreak.
North Korea has not reported any coronavirus cases, but experts say
its measures in recent weeks go beyond those it took previously.
North Korea moved quickly to restrict travel and trade from China,
where the coronavirus emerged late last year.
The coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 and killed more than
3,000 in China and is rapidly spreading around the world.
Most flights and trains in and out of North Korea have been
restricted, foreign diplomats in Pyongyang were quarantined for a
month, and authorities have cracked down on cross-border smuggling.
South Korea, separated from the North by the heavily fortified
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), has reported nearly 6,000 cases.
In January, North Korea told travel agencies that it was closing its
borders to travelers from China, Reuters reported, cutting off one
of its few sources of external revenue.
It is unclear how much trade continues, but sources who work near
the border have said much of the official and unofficial trade was
affected. Activists who work with North Korean refugees trying to
leave through China said the border lockdown has made an already
dangerous journey nearly impossible.
"At the border crossings, personnel in charge of inspection and
quarantine are discharging their duty in a responsible manner to
completely keep the virus from spreading to the country," the
North's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported last month.
(Reporting by Keith Zhai in Singapore and Josh Smith in Seoul;
Editing by Tony Munroe, Robert Birsel)
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