North Korea detains another US citizen

Why is North Korea so scared of Ebola?

3 November

North Korea has put "draconian" new measures in place to contain the spread of Ebola, despite the fact that no incidents of the disease have yet been reported in the country.

North Korean officials announced a ban on all tour groups on 23 October and began refusing all entry to citizens of countries that had suffered Ebola cases, The Guardian reports.

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Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, has also imposed a 21-day mandatory quarantine period for all arrivals from abroad.

According to The Guardian, news broadcasts are filled with "a lengthy section on the disease, filling the screen with images of grieving families, ailing patients and medical workers in protective gear – as well as some coverage of its own measures".

What travel bans have been put in place?

Last week, North Korea informed the travel companies that bring western tourists to the country that all tours would be indefinitely suspended. All November tours have now been cancelled and it is not known whether tours scheduled for December will go ahead. The ban also covers Chinese tourists who make up the bulk of the country's tourism market.

On Thursday Pyongyang added a new pronouncement that all foreigners – including diplomats – must be quarantined for 21 days. This is three times the length of the average trip to North Korea.

"All foreign nationals who are entering from Ebola affected areas are to be quarantined at the Chongchongang Hotel in the city of Anju, South Pyongan province for a period of 21 days under medical observation," Uri Tours, one of the agencies operating in North Korea, said on its website.

What other measures have been adopted?

The country has introduced a central command unit to coordinate the nation’s response to the Ebola threat. “In order to prevent transmission of the Ebola virus, a central command office for hygiene and quarantine has been set up,” a source in North Hamgyung province told the Daily NK, a South Korean media organisation partly staffed by defectors from North Korea.

Why is North Korea so concerned about Ebola?

"Even by the standards of the most authoritarian regime out there, North Korea’s Ebola response appears excessive," the Wall Street Journal says.

Some analysts say that the new measures are in line with the regime’s suspicious attitude to the outside world. Others say that due to North Korea’s poor medical facilities, the country may in fact be well advised to put advanced protocols in place to protect against potential outbreaks.

Hazel Smith, an expert on North Korea at the University of Central Lancashire, told The Guardian: "I understand the logic of what they are doing, even if it seems extreme … If there was someone with Ebola coming in, it wouldn’t be easy to avoid contagion: they have problems with electricity, running water and disinfectants."

Other analysts believe that the measures are a form of public reassurance. The official announcements of the past couple of weeks "are sending a message to the population that it is taking steps to protect them," Keith Luse, executive director of the Washington-based National Committee on North Korea, told NPR.

Should Ebola be Pyongang’s greatest concern?

Despite the hysteria, many analysts say that North Korea has more pressing medical issues than Ebola. According to a study published in the Lancet in April, North Koreans suffer high rates of malnutrition and have "one of the highest incidence rates [of tuberculosis] outside sub-Saharan Africa." Levels of stunting and underweight among North Korean children come "close to the worst-performing African countries."

North Korean officials 'executed for watching soaps'

29 October

Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered the execution of up to 50 senior North Korean officials so far this year in an attempt to consolidate power.

At least ten members of the ruling Workers' Party have been killed by firing squad for watching South Korean soap operas, bribery or womanising, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Many of those killed were affiliated with the North Korean leader's uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, who was executed last year and commentators believe this latest round of purges was an attempt to erase the remaining influence he held.

"Kim Jong Un is trying to establish absolute power and strengthen his regime with public punishments," Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told Bloomberg.

Last week, the disappearance of six senior officials in Pyongyang prompted speculation that a major purge was underway.

The details of the latest executions were revealed in a report by the South Korean intelligence service.

It also stated that North Korea is continuing to expand the capacity of its political prison camps. The camps are thought to house more than 100,000 prisoners, including children, in subhuman conditions, with many imprisoned simply for being related to someone who has spoken out against the regime. However, Pyongyang continues to deny their existence.