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SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the execution of at least two people, banned sea fishing and blockaded the capital Pyongyang as part of frantic efforts to protect against COVID-19 and its economic damage, said the South Korean spy agency to lawmakers. Friday (November 27).
The Kim government also ordered diplomats abroad to refrain from any acts that could provoke the United States because it is concerned about President-elect Joe Biden’s expected new approach to North Korea, lawmakers told reporters after attend a private briefing by the National Intelligence Service.
One of the lawmakers, Ha Tae-keung, quoted the NIS as saying that Kim is displaying “excessive anger” and taking “irrational measures” over the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact.
Ha said the NIS told lawmakers that North Korea executed a high-profile money changer in Pyongyang last month after holding the person responsible for the falling exchange rate. He quoted the NIS as saying that North Korea also executed a key official in August for violating government regulations restricting products brought in from abroad. The two people were not identified by name.
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North Korea has also banned fishing and salt production in the sea to prevent seawater from becoming infected with the virus, the NIS told lawmakers.
North Korea recently put Pyongyang and the northern province of Jagang under lockdown due to concerns about the virus. Earlier this month, he imposed lockdown measures in other areas where officials found unauthorized goods and foreign currencies that were brought in, Ha said, citing the NIS.
North Korea also made a failed hacking attempt on at least one South Korean pharmaceutical company that was trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine, the NIS said.
The agency has a mixed record in confirming developments in North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive nations. The NIS said it could not immediately confirm the lawmakers’ versions.
North Korea has maintained that it has not found a single case of coronavirus on its soil, a claim disputed by outside experts, although it says it is doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the virus. A major outbreak could have dire consequences as the North’s health care system remains paralyzed and suffers from a chronic lack of medical supplies.
The pandemic forced North Korea to seal its border with China, its biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, in January. The shutdown, along with a series of natural disasters over the summer, dealt a severe blow to the North’s economy, which has been under severe sanctions led by the United States.
North Korea’s trade with China in the first 10 months of this year amounted to $ 530 million, about 25 percent of the corresponding figure last year. The price of sugar and seasonings has soared four times, Ha quoted the NIS as saying.
North Korean monitoring groups in Seoul said the exchange rate between the won and the North Korean dollar has dropped significantly recently because people found few places to use foreign currency after smuggling was largely disrupted. after the closure of the border with China.
According to the NIS report, North Korea ordered diplomatic missions abroad not to provoke the United States, warning its ambassadors of the consequences if their comments or actions related to the United States cause any problems in relations with Washington.
The North Korean government has been silent on Biden’s electoral victory over President Donald Trump, with whom Kim held three summits in 2018-19 on the North’s nuclear arsenal. While diplomacy eventually stalled, the meetings helped Kim and Trump build personal ties and stop the crude insults and threats of destruction they had previously exchanged.
Lawmaker Kim Byung-kee quoted the NIS as saying that North Korea is showing anxiety as its friendly ties with Trump become useless and it has to start from scratch to deal with the incoming Biden administration.
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Experts have been debating whether North Korea will soon resume major missile tests to try to get Biden’s attention. During past government changes in the US, North Korea often conducted large gun drops in an attempt to increase its influence in negotiations with a new US administration.
The NIS expects North Korea to hold a military parade before the ruling party’s congress in January in a show of force synchronized with Biden’s inauguration. North Korea is also likely to use the Workers’ Party congress to lay out its basic policies toward the United States, Kim Byung-kee said, citing the NIS.
Kim Jong Un has said that the congress, the first of its kind in four years, will set new state goals for the next five years. In a highly unusual admission of the failure of its policy in August, the Workers’ Party said North Korea’s economy had not improved due to severe internal and external barriers and that its previous development goals had been seriously delayed.
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