Residents of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, were suddenly ordered to stay indoors yesterday afternoon (10th), a source said. After the authorities issued the order, people scrambled to return home, with long queues at Pyongyang bus stations and some residents rushing home on foot, the sources said.
North Korean authorities apparently instructed people not to go out, NK News reported, but did not specify when the order would be lifted. Although farmers could still be seen plowing on the border between the two Koreas near Paju around 5 p.m. on the 10th, North Korea News understands that the orders may have been issued to the public across the country.
North Korea has suspended overland trade with mainland China after a spike in COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) cases in mainland China’s Liaoning and Jilin provinces, which border the North Korean border, weeks ago.
A foreign diplomat working in Pyongyang revealed that it was not unusual for North Korea to issue instructions to temporarily stay indoors before the pandemic began in 2020. Authorities also ordered residents indoors for a short period of time last week, a move that Pyongyang sources told North Korea News linked to a dust storm in mainland China.
North Korean news has previously reported on several occasions that North Korean authorities have asked people in Pyongyang to stay indoors because of concerns that dust storms from overseas could contain the COVID-19 virus.