Pyongyang's response to Ebola: every foreigner in quarantine for 3 weeks
North Korean officials plan to quarantine every single foreigner for 21 days over fears of Ebola - even though not a single case of the disease has been reported in the country.
North Korean officials plan to quarantine every single foreigner for 21 days over fears of Ebola - even though not a single case of the disease has been reported in the country.
The drastic announcement distributed to foreign diplomatic missions in Pyongyang said that, regardless of country or region of origin, all foreigners would be quarantined under medical observation for three weeks.
It said foreigners from affected areas would be quarantined at one set of locations, while those from unaffected areas would be sent to other locations, including hotels.
It said the staff of diplomatic missions and international organisations in North Korea would be allowed to stay in their residences.
A copy of the document was obtained by The Associated Press yesterday.
More than 13,700 people have become ill in the Ebola outbreak, and nearly 5,000 of them have died. Nearly all the cases have occurred in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, though there were 20 in Nigeria, four in the US and one each in Mali, Senegal and Spain. None have been reported in Asia.
North Korea's frantic response to Ebola, including a broad but so far poorly defined ban on foreign tourism, is also surprising because the notoriously reclusive country admits so few foreigners.
Other than diplomatic and government missions, it has virtually no contact with any of the countries that have been most affected in West Africa, though it has tried to cultivate good relations with some African nations.
Kim Yong-nam, the head of North Korea's parliament, is now touring other parts of Africa.
Last week, North Korea's state media announced that travellers and cargo would be subject to stricter monitoring at airports, seaports and railway border crossings. Warnings are also being aired on television to increase public awareness of the disease and its symptoms.
North Korea's reaction isn't unprecedented. It closed its borders for several months in 2003 during the scare over Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. But that was a much more obvious threat. Sars affected China, and Beijing is where most flights into Pyongyang originate.
