Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Experts: Pyongyang's Anti-Virus Measures Put Stability Over Public Health

Christy Lee

   Experts fear North Korea could be using its tough anti-virus measures
   to gain tighter centralized control over its people by prioritizing
   regime stability over public health.

   "What I'm seeing is that there seems to be a premium placed on
   population control, regime-strengthening stability, and not the public
   health of the population," said W. Courtland Robinson, a professor
   focusing on North Korea's public health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
   School of Public Health.

   North Korea has been taking tough measures to fend off the virus, even
   as it says the country has no cases of COVID-19. The highly contagious
   virus has spread rapidly from Wuhan, China, where the first cases
   emerged, to infect more than 2.3 million and kill nearly 160,000 people
   worldwide as of Saturday evening, according to the Johns Hopkins
   University Coronavirus Resource Center.

   Pyongyang [1]suspended all flights to and from China and closed the
   porous border they share in January before [2]opening slightly in March
   to admit anti-virus supplies.

   North Korea also placed [3]thousands of people under quarantine before
   [4]releasing some in late March. In February, the regime ordered a full
   [5]inspection and quarantine of all goods arriving at its ports and
   borders.

References

   1. https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/north-korea-suspends-all-air-train-links-china
   2. https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2020-03-13/north-korea-opens-borders-to-aid-amid-coronavirus-threat
   3. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20200303011100320
   4. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20200308001100325
   5. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20200223001000315

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