om frequent citywide lockdowns and orders to self-quarantine at home.
In addition to regular North Korean citizens, the Chinese police have even caught North Korean border guards in the act of crossing the border for economic reasons. In the past, border guards made a living by taking bribes from civilians in return for turning a blind eye to illegal smuggling, border crossing, and trade. However, after the authorities began enforcing the border blockade, their primary source of income quickly dried up. Additionally, some soldiers are reportedly suffering from starvation due to the failure of the authorities to provide enough food supplies.
They have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep out the virus – installing concrete barriers and high-voltage wires along the border with China. Partly no doubt there's an awareness that the North Korean health system is no state to deal with this kind of pandemic, but there is an undeniable element of paranoia about the whole business: the virus is seen as something foreign, something alien, a threat to the socialist purity of the country under the sacred Mount Paektu bloodline. They've deliberately linked the spread of the virus to the spread of foreign influence, and reported with glee on the pandemic suffering of the decadent South Koreans.
Meanwhile, of course, it's the ordinary North Koreans who suffer.
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