'Respiratory illness' prompts lockdown of N. Korean capital

Pyongyang entered a five-day lockdown on Wednesday to combat a rise in cases of respiratory illness, according to an official North Korean government notice seen by NK News.

A military parade takes place in Pyongyang on April 25, when the regime displayed a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile. The North reported its first suspected major outbreak of Covid-19 shortly thereafter. [YONHAP]

Pyongyang entered a five-day lockdown on Wednesday to combat a rise in cases of respiratory illness, according to an official North Korean government notice seen by NK News.

Although the government notice mentioned several illnesses spreading in Pyongyang, including the common cold, it did not mention Covid-19.

During its last mass outbreak of Covid-19, which began at the end of April and was declared over in August, the regime’s quarantine authorities only reported cases of people presenting fever symptoms.

According to the new notice, residents of the North Korean capital must stay inside their homes until the end of the weekend and undergo temperature checks several times per day.

NK News reported Tuesday that Pyongyang residents were stockpiling goods in anticipation of the lockdown announcement.

It remains unclear what effect the lockdown will have on a major military parade scheduled for Feb. 8 to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North’s armed forces.

Satellite images in recent weeks have captured tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers practicing propaganda display formations at Mirim Parade Training Ground outside Pyongyang in preparation for the parade.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]